Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)

Practices, Policies and Programs

of Selected BPOs, Hotels and Construction Companies
in Three Major Cities of the Philippines
 2011-2012
CHANGE
ILO
spearheaded
implementation
of Project
CHANGE in
partnership
with UNAIDS,
WHO, UNDP,
DOLE, DOH,
ECOP, TUCP,
FFW, IBPAP
 Project CHANGE
• Promotion of OSH and healthy lifestyle among
workers through enterprise-level interventions
– draw up their workplace policies on the health
domains

• To address risk behaviors noted high among the

young age
– poor diet, little or no physical activity, and smoking,
early sex, unprotected sex, and casual sex (based on
2009 and 2010 studies conducted by UPPI and Ateneo
Dept of Psych)

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
Workplace-based health promotion and disease
prevention interventions have the potential to
contribute significantly in curbing the continuously
increasing prevalence of so-called lifestyle
diseases

most affected populations belong to most

productive age groups

WORKPLACES SETTING IN HEALTH

PROMOTION
Department of Labor and Employment
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Sustainability of Health Promotion Programs in
the Workplace
• Uptake and sustainability are issues identified
in health promotion and disease prevention in
the workplace

• Need to scale up and expand coverage of

programs

– necessary stage is to gather data on enabling and

hindering factors in the implementation of
programs on OSH and health promotion

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 OBJECTIVES
• OSH profile and identify OSH issues

– Selected business process outsourcing, hotel and

construction establishments located in Quezon
City, Cebu City, and Davao City

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 OBJECTIVES:
• OSH programs, policies and structures

• Systems, mechanisms and/or public/private sector

partners in program implementation

• Perception of HR, OSH and worker key informants

– on barriers, motivators and enabling factors
– on potential strategies, networks and communication
channels
• facilitate effective implementation of OSH programs and policies
• rapid dissemination of OSH and CHANGE information

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 METHODS
• The study population:

– Business process outsourcing (BPOs), hotel and

restaurant and construction companies located
in NCR, Regions 7 and 11

• based on series of consultations as part of CHANGE;

young workers and key employment generators

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 METHODS
• A qualitative method of investigation was done through
interviews of representatives from each selected
companies

– To gather an in-depth understanding on OSH practices and

issues that could not be culled from BITS and other secondary
data

• Individuals knowledgeable on development and/or

implementation of company’s OSH services, activities,
programs and/or policies were interviewed

• Worker representatives were interviewed on perspective

on implementation of programs, potential strategies

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 METHODS
• Access to establishments facilitated by DOLE
Regional Offices (NCR, Regions 7 and 11)

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
Characteristics of Respondent
Description
Establishments
No. of establishment respondents 18 establishments
3 QC, 6 Cebu, 9 Davao
Type of industry
Call center 7 establishments (3 QC, 1 Cebu, 3 Davao)
Construction 5 establishments (2 Cebu, 3 Davao)
Hotel 6 establishments (3 Cebu, 3 Davao)
Size
14 establishments
large
(All call centers and construction estabs)
medium 3 hotels
small 1 hotel
Age Range 18 – 63 years old
Sex distribution: 9 out of 18 are male-dominated
Male dominated (more than 50% of workforce)
 OSH Related Policy and Structures
(n=18 establishments)

OSH Indicators Description

With OSH Policy Call center: 6 of 7
Construction: 5 of 5
Hotel: 2 of 6
Health and Safety Committee 17 of 18
Composition of HSC 6 of 17: structure as
prescribed in OSHS
11 of 17: No worker rep

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Existing Health Programs in Establishments
according to key informants
Existing Health Programs in HR and OSH Worker KI
Establishments KI Responses Responses
(n=18) (n=18)
Annual medical 16 16
Drug-Free Workplace 16 10
HIV/AIDS Prevention & Ctrl 10 3
TB Control Prevention & Ctrl 15 10
Hepatitis B Prevention & Ctrl 10 6
Tobacco-Free Workplace 15 13
Exclusive Breastfeeding 12 9
Good Nutrition and Exercise 16 9
Immunization Program 10 9
Health education and counseling 14 11
 Information Dissemination Mechanisms in the
respondent establishments
Information Dissemination Mechanisms Responses of HR/OSH
Key Informants (n=18)
Formal face to face (lectures, seminars, 15 (83%)
forum, etc.)
Informal face to face interaction 6 (33%)
(discussion during walkabouts or
company patrols)
Voice (telephone-based) 10 (55%)
Paper (brochures, posters, manuals, etc.) 15 (83%)
Electronic (email, online dissemination) 13 (72%)
Social media (facebook, twitter, podcast, 3 (16%)
blogs, etc)
Department of Labor and Employment
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Enabling/motivating factors for OSH program devt and
implementation identified by key informants
Perceived Enabling Factors HR (n=18) OSH (n=18)
Clear goals 10 (55%) 15 (83%)
Management support 14 (78%) 15 (83%)
Well-designed plan 13 (72%) 14 (78%)
Worker consultation 13 (72%) 12 (66%)
Competent Personnel to run program 10 (55%) 12 (66%)

Technical Expertise 7 (38%) 11 (61%)

Monitoring and Feedback 12 (66%) 14 (78%)
Communication 14 (78%) 14 (78%)
Partnership/assistance from govt 13 (72%) 14 (78%)
(BFP, DOLE, DOH, etc.)
Partnership/techl assistance from 6 (33%) 8 (44%)
private sector
 Workers’ Roles in program
implementation
Roles of Workers n=18
Attendance in activities (lectures, seminars, 14
etc.)
Part of HS committee 2
Facilitator in activities 7
By following policies/rules 18

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Participation of Worker Key Informant in Activities
related to Specific Health Domain (including CHANGE)
Health Domain With Participation of Worker Key
Informant (n=18)
Tobacco-free Workplace 13 (72%)
Drug-free Workplace 10 (55%)
TB 10 (55%)
Exercise 8 (44%)
Immunization Program 7 (38%)
Stress management 7 (38%)
Anti-sexual harassment 6 (33%)
Nutrition 6 (33%)
Hepatitis B 6 (33%)
Breastfeeding/Lactation 6 (33%)
HIV 3 (16%)
Department of Labor and Employment
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Key Findings
• Facilitating/Motivating factors in program
implementation:

– Good design of program; competent program

implementers, good communication plan

• Budget, capability building of OSH personnel, worker

involvement, enhanced communication channels

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
Key Findings: Improving Program Implementation

• Worker involvement in program design and

implementation
• Use of Electronic communication and social
media
• Partnership with DOLE and other
organizations to improve capacity for program
implementation

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Key Findings
• Barriers to worker participation must be
addressed to improve employee engagement in
OSH program

– Low level awareness on policies and programs of

companies
– Access to program activities affected by conflicts with
work schedule
• Lack of management support?
– Lack of interest in programs
• Need to better communicate program goals and benefits

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Key Findings
• Social media identified as essential in info
dissemination mechanism apart from
traditional mechanisms

• Networks with govt/private sectors promising

strategy to increase uptake/buy in to
programs

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
 Multi-sectoral Strategy
• Engaging partners -- business, workers group,
other Government and Non-Governmental
Organizations and the Academe

• The guiding principle of OSH program is

respect for human lives that calls for close
attention to established OSH concepts and
appropriate response to the needs of
employees for healthy and safe workplaces
Department of Labor and Employment
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER
www.oshc.dole.gov.ph

Managing Emerging Health-Related Issues in

the Workplace

Department of Labor and Employment

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CENTER