ABSTRACT
The relocation of big business has meant that the global workforce is in a state of flux. As barriers to trade and movement of products and supplies have fallen, this has increased the opportunities for transience as workers cross borders in search of work, causing an exponential rise in health, safety and security challenges. Previously unknown levels of uncertainty and unpredictability haunt the global economy–and this has negatively impacted Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) throughout the world. The ongoing global economic crisis has added to these challenges, simultaneously placing pressure on workers, families and organisations and undermining established patterns of behaviour, prevention systems, programmes and practices. Due to the changes in the nature of the workplace, socio-economics and regulatory systems, demographic developments and labour market shifts, the risk-based safety approach that has historically been the cornerstone of the world's OSH management is now being reconsidered.
