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by The Federation of URA World Assembly Affairs. . 125 reads.

URA Recommendation: Vote AGAINST "Health and Safety Act"


URA World Assembly Recommendation

Health and Safety Act
The World Assembly,

Recognising not only that industry is critical to the economic development of many member states, but that high standards of health and safety are critical to the development of many industries,

Concerned that some members and employers might not have adequate laws and policies in effect to protect workers from dangerous working conditions, not only in factories and other centres of heavy industry but also - for example - in restaurants (where measures to prevent cross-contamination of foodstuffs, such as the use of different-coloured chopping boards and regular handwashing, are of great importance),

Believing that employers in member states with strong health and safety standards should not be entitled to outsource jobs to members with lax or nonexistent health and safety standards in order to make a quick buck, and

Supporting the right of workers everywhere to face as small a risk of physical harm and deterioration as possible while they are working,

Hereby enacts as follows.

  1. In this resolution, a "worker" in any given member state means a hypothetical worker of average physical dimensions whose species is the predominant sapient species in that member.

  2. Each member must:

    1. publish a first, quantitative manual of guidelines listing those levels of mechanical, temperature, chemical, and ergonomic stresses which a worker in that member may endure on a daily basis without incurring adverse side effects over time,

    2. publish a second, quantitative manual of guidelines listing those levels of various industrial chemical substances, with reference to levels in both the factory workplace environment and a worker's blood sample, which a worker in that member may endure on a daily basis without incurring adverse side effects over time,

    3. publish a third, qualitative manual of guidelines explaining the steps that their workers can take to reduce their risk of injury in the workplace (both in general and at the particular type of business where they work), regardless of where they work or what their job entails, and the steps that employers in each sector of the economy must take to reduce these risks,

    4. update the three manuals of guidelines, hereinafter "the Manuals," on an annual basis to incorporate the latest research findings and relevant statistical data, and

    5. distribute the Manuals to all of their businesses, and

    6. sanction those businesses who expose their workers to levels of stress and exposure to chemical substances (pursuant to Articles 2a and 2b respectively) beyond those stipulated in the Manuals, or who fail to report injuries sustained by their workers at the workplace to their member's government (to ensure its compliance with Article 3c).

  3. The Health and Safety Board (HSB) is established. It is responsible for receiving the following data from each member on an annual basis:

    1. legal measures enacted by that member and its political subdivisions to protect the health and safety of workers,

    2. how frequently and effectively the measures described in Articles 2a, 2b, 2c, and 3a are being enforced by the government, and

    3. how often per year, on average, workplace injuries occur (which shall be disaggregated according to whether they were caused by mechanical hazards, temperature hazards, chemical hazards, or ergonomic hazards).

  4. The HSB shall report all members and political subdivisions of members whose governments fail to enforce those measures they have enacted to protect the health and safety of workers, including by failing to enforce compliance with Articles 2 and 5 of this Act, to the WACC.

  5. Each member must disseminate accurate and informative publications to all of their businesses (including state-owned businesses) which describe the legal measures they have enacted to protect the health and safety of workers and explain how businesses can comply with these legal measures.

Co-authored with Tinhampton.

This General Assembly resolution was written by Alistia and Tinhampton to improve worker safety. You can find the drafting thread on the forums here.

The United Regions Alliance recommends that you vote AGAINST the resolution

This resolution creates the Health and Safety Board (HSB) to analyze worker safety and injury data from member states, and ensure member states enforce the dissemination of safety manuals. These Manuals establish safety standards for workers and workplaces, such as Material Safety Data Sheets. While the URA may agree with the principles behind this resolution, its poor writing means the Alliance cannot support "Health and Safety Act." For no clear reason, the definition of worker is based upon the average build of a predominant species. In a society with more than one species, the minority species will be totally ignored, and standards for the predominant species may even put the minority species at greater risk. This definition also assumes that the predominant species has an "average build;" in the case of an ant species, different individual ants would have different builds based upon their biological role. Unlike with humans, defining any given build as "average" would be wholly inappropriate. This resolution's preamble also suffers from poor writing, with phrases like "as small a risk" and "make a quick buck." Lastly, this resolution identifies outsourcing of labour as a serious issue yet does nothing to address it.


The following comments were given during discussion on the LinkURA Discord server:

Lands End voting member TESDAI wrote,

TESDAI wrote:
Believing that employers in member states with strong health and safety standards should not be entitled to outsource jobs to members with lax or nonexistent health and safety standards in order to make a quick buck, and
Supporting the right of workers everywhere to face as small a risk of physical harm and deterioration as possible while they are working,

I’m not a fan of the two sections that are bolded here. While the proposal seeks a positive outcome, I don’t really like the idea of passing legislation that could probably be repealed in the future on the basis of the writing of the proposal.

The Sportsbook voting member Davelands wrote,

Davelands wrote:I saw the first one too. Agree that it will be a quick repeal if it passes.

St Abbaddon voting member Draganisia wrote,

Draganisia wrote:Yea that part pretty much ruins it. Agree with the intention but not with how it is written.

Cape of Good Hope voting member Bearded Dragones wrote,

Bearded Dragones wrote:And they never seem to come back around to that outsourcing problem in the actual legislation part.

Internal voting results

Turnout: 17/28 members
Weighted turnout: 78.59%


This document was authored by Scalizagasti on behalf of the United Regions Alliance. Please do not reproduce it without permission.

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