| dc.description.abstract | Health and safety standards are different based on the situation at the workplace. For
instance, the production process requires a set of standards that may be different from
the functioning of management at the operational level. The concept of ‘health and
safety at the workplace’ articulates a Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) since health
and safety are always linked to basic human rights specifically the right to life. On the
other hand, the International Labour Organization (ILO) through its labour standards
have provided a series of normative backgrounds in health and safety and more recently
there are inclusions in terms of return to work in the New Normal. ‘New Normal’
is recognized by the international community such as World Health Organization and
ILO as the changes in the conservative human activities in society, individually and
collectively due to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, it
is pertinent to seek whether the Sri Lankan legal framework sufficiently ensures a healthier
and safer workplace in the New Normal for the labour force when measured against
international labour standards. This research would be qualitative legal research based
on primary and secondary legal sources. The black letter approach and international and
comparative research methodologies were utilized to analyze the legal background in a
comparative manner. When analyzing the Sri Lankan legal framework, the benchmarks of
the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155), the Occupational Health
Services Convention, 1985 (No. 161) and the Promotional Framework for Occupational
Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187) was evaluated against the domestic
standards based on the theoretical approach of HRBA. The study suggested legal reforms
to improve the employers’ duty of protecting the employee and the State’s obligation, to
protect the employee which is the ultimate objective of Labour Law. | en_US |
