Public policy for safety and health at the worksite: The Colombian case

Abstract

Work is expected to provide the human being with richness and well-being; notwithstanding all working activity implies fatalities, accidents and occupational diseases affecting the work productivity and the sustainable development. Safety and health are pivotal to build a culture of both healthy working environments and safe and respectable work. To accomplish this, the Colombian State is promoting safety public policies based on the recommendations by international agencies, some of them framed in the new millennium challenges. Ae review aims to show how the Colombian public policy for safety and health at the worksite has developed so far. To do so, the international guidelines set by both the ILO and the WHO will be outlined, showing how they are implemented through the Iberian-American strategies and the application of public policy in the national programs for safety and health at the worksite.