ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has stepped up efforts to formulate a new National occupational safety and health (OSH) policy aimed at making safe and healthy workplaces a reality for workers across the country’s formal and informal economy.

The initiative brought federal and provincial governments, employers and workers at a national stakeholders’ consultation convened by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development with technical support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to review a draft policy and develop an implementation framework.

The proposed policy seeks to extend protection to workers across a wide range of sectors, including women, young and older workers, persons with disabilities, migrants, home-based and domestic workers, agricultural labourers and those engaged through digital platforms.

ILO Country Director for Pakistan Geir T. Tonstol said the policy was being developed through an evidence-based and consultative process involving provinces, employers and workers. “The aim is not simply to produce another policy document, but to develop a framework that Pakistan’s institutions can implement and workplaces can use,” he said.

The move comes as occupational safety and health gains greater international significance. In 2022, the International Labour Conference recognised a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental principle and right at work.

ILO Conventions 155 and 187 provide the international framework for national policies on workplace safety, prevention and continuous improvement. Officials said Pakistan’s changing work environment had created new safety challenges, with traditional workplace hazards increasingly intersecting with extreme heat, climate change, chemical and biological risks, technological changes and psychosocial hazards.

Federal Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry said economic progress must go hand in hand with protecting workers who contribute to it. “A stronger national OSH framework can support safer workplaces, productive enterprises and Pakistan’s ambition to be a responsible and competitive participant in the global economy,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2026