Securing safety and health at work for all workers is an increasingly important challenge to Asia. Many countries in Asia have launched the strategic National OSH Programmes referring to ILO Promotional Framework for OSH Convention. Despite these achievements, there are pressing needs to provide adequate OSH protection to all women and men. Globalising economies have also been causing diverse and complex work environments. Regional and international cooperation should be further strengthened to support good practices and promote practical solutions. The ILO joins the renewed commitment of the government, workers and employers in realising OSH and Decent Work for All.

Leadership is the fundamental driver for WSH improvements. Good leaders lead by example by practising good management and sense of moral responsibility. However, bad leaders are also a commonality. They may be willing to improve WSH, but have little clue on what to do. The ugly leaders are the worst. Making improvements in WSH systems and processes at the workplace are usually the last thing on their minds.

Strong WSH leadership is critical in Keppel Corporation, as a multi-national company operating in over 30 countries in many high risk sectors, such as marine and integrated engineering. Keppel will share its experience in creating a culture of safety leadership and aligning safety efforts across its different business units and contractors, while leveraging their individual strengths and expertise to enhance and complement WSH.

Bovis Lend Lease has extensive operations across the globe from Asia Pacific to North and South America, to Europe and the Middle East. Taking in this global experience, Bovis Lend Lease recognises that for further progress in health and safety, leaders need to cultivate a strong health and safety behavioural culture to prevent accidents, engage stakeholders across the supply chain to influence better safety behaviour, work across countries and regions to establish global minimum requirements and build on workers' engagement. It is only when leaders embrace the challenges then we can start pushing WSH frontiers.

The presentation will discuss three key aspects of the Japanese experience, namely the tide of number of accidents throughout the past five decades, analysis of the recently occurred accidents from various aspects and emerging issues on OSH for which Japanese OSH administration is developing counter measures.

An estimated 240 million health problems leading to absence from work and 336 million non-fatal accidents present a massive burden due to lack of ideal working conditions. WSH is therefore an important strategy for success. Sufficient evidence has proven that well-governed businesses and countries benefit from increased competitiveness, and healthier and better motivated manpower. More will be shared on how professionals, organisations and governments could collaborate to educate and share solutions and good practices with the wider audience to achieve this aim.

Workplace injuries and illnesses exact a high social and business cost for economically developing and developed countries alike. These costs could be the critical success factor in the growth and survival of a business, economy and society. Because of their exclusive focus on safety and health conditions in the workplace, safety and health professionals assure that the business and social value of workplace safety and health is equally advocated along with other business functions in an enterprise. Learn about the value these professionals bring and credentialing systems that define their level of competency and improve their practice that assures high performance and relevance.

The Australian Standard on Risk Management (AS 4360) has historically been applied to evaluate the risk posed by traditional hazards arising from the physical work environment (for e.g. working at height and electricity). However, can the same techniques of risk management be applied to "psycho-social" hazards rising primarily from persons in the workplace? Reviews of the application of the principles of AS 4360 in a specialist school environment and its findings will be presented.

An awareness of tomorrow's health and safety challenges is necessary to provide professionals with the ability to deal with these challenges. For WSH professionals, a familiarity with tomorrow's workplaces and an understanding of the changing patterns of disease and ill-health are essential components of the knowledge and skills relevant to effective practice. Theoretical knowledge needs to be accompanied by obtaining relevant "hands-on" experience. Without updating their knowledge and skills regularly, health and safety professionals will be ill-equipped to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

As a global defence and engineering group, ST Engineering embraces the importance of WSH as part of the overall business excellence journey and the need for strong WSH leadership. The company has strengthened the management framework and capabilities of its subsidiaries and associated companies across their various business segments and communities. The approaches undertaken would be elaborated under the three main themes of Environment, Health and Safety. The illustrations of best practices, programmes and lessons learnt would especially be beneficial to WSH practitioners, regulators and CEOs.

Sustainability of business in any organisation is assured through a combined implementation of behavioral based safety and process safety management into their Safety Management system. The combination of both these finally results in 'Operational Excellence'.

Tata Steel has a comprehensive Occupational Health and Safety Management System which is mandatory in all their strategic business units. Its purpose is to protect the health and safety of their employees, customers, contractors, and the community. The Management System gives substance to their beliefs and outlines how they will achieve their goal of producing 'Injury free steel'.