Safety and health at work

Think safety, work safely

Safety and health at work is important for government officials and workers in the public sector. Al, a young public sector official and union member shares that the local government is also performing its duty to protect its people by ensuring occupational safety and health.

Feature | 07 May 2018
Barely 20 years old, Al started a career in government working on a contract basis. It was not possible for him to join a union since he was on a job order status, without any employment relationship and security of tenure.

At 32, Al continues to work in the public sector on a permanent full-time post and to serve the people of Malapatan. He also fulfilled his desire to join a union, being part of the Philippine Independent Public Sector Employees Association (PIPSEA).

Al described himself as a full-blooded Muslim and Malapatan is a province where Christians, Muslims and indigenous peoples live in harmony. As the Assistant Human Resources Officer, he is in-charge of training programmes for local and elective officials. He recognizes however the need for the local government to further understand and to support the right of public officials and civil servants to a safe and healthy workplace.

Al shares that the local government can help ensure the safety and health of its people by promoting OSH in local services such as garbage collection and waste segregation in the province. (Photo by: ILO/M. Fossat)
“At the end of the day, we want to perform our duties as public officials but we also have to be safe at work. By ensuring occupational safety and health (OSH), the local government is also performing its duty to protect its people,” says Al.

Al is among the 30 initial batch of workers who completed the training of trainers on OSH. The ILO’s SafeYouth@Work Project, funded by the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) brought together workers representatives from the private and public sector, as well as from the informal economy and youth organizations.

The training as Al said is a breakthrough since he was able to define and to clarify the role of the local government on OSH. Al plans to integrate OSH in his training and orientation programmes so that local officials will get first-hand information on unsafe working conditions, help prevent accidents and build a culture of safety and health at work in Malapatan.


Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL-26690-14-75-K-11.

This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government. One hundred percentage of the total costs of the project or programme is financed with Federal funds, for a total of 11,443,156 dollars.