This report offers a vision to make the workplace a fulfilling place – one where employees and the business thrive and flourish together and formulate a holistic vision offering recommendations on how to promote occupational health and safety (OH&S) standards in our country.
Adopted unanimously by all Council members at the General Assembly’s 116th regular meeting on 26 November 2020, this report offers a vision to make the workplace a fulfilling place – one where employees and the business thrive and flourish together.
The report points out that work-related accidents and illnesses are a scourge. According to ILO estimates, the report explains, workplace accidents and occupational disease account for almost 2.78 million deaths around the world every year. ILO also estimates that 4.25% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is lost due to work accidents and diseases.
Bearing this situation in mind, our country has launched several initiatives to improve health and safety in the workplace. These include the drafting of a framework law on health and safety at work – a project that has not yet been implemented for 10 years. In 2010, the National Institute for Working Life Conditions (INCVT) was set up, and the national policy and program for health and safety at work for the period 2020-2024 were drawn up.
Despite these initiatives, health and safety at work continues to have a number of weaknesses. These include the poor enforcement of national labor law in the private sector where only 17% of companies have a health and safety committee. As for occupational medical services, they are practically nonexistent.
Other salient facts include the weak health and safety culture at work and the low level of social security benefits for accidents at work.
Based on this observation, the Council has formulated a holistic vision offering recommendations on how to promote occupational health and safety (OH&S) standards in our country.
These recommendations can be grouped under the following main headings:
- At the legislative level, the draft framework law drawn up 10 years ago should be updated and the Labor Code, the Civil Service Statute and other regulations on social protection should be revised.
- On the institutional front, it is recommended that the mode of governance be reviewed thoroughly by setting up a national agency for health and safety at work, building on existing structures and achievements. The agency shall be responsible for developing and implementing a national policy for occupational health and safety and relevant regulatory framework.
- Regarding social protection, the Council recommends extending cover for accidents at work to occupational diseases, with the CNSS (French for Morocco’s National Social Security Fund) as the central governing body.
- The Council also recommends such concrete measures as may foster a health and safety-conscious culture at work, mainly through basic and continuous training and awareness-raising campaigns.
- The Council also recommends promoting the use of digital technologies and scientific research into occupational health and safety in our country.
