A/HRC/20/15 I. Introduction 1. The present report considers the right to occupational health as an integral component of the right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (hereafter, the right to health). It discusses the obligation of States to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate national occupational health laws and policies. In particular, it examines in detail the right of workers to participate in decision-making at all stages of these processes. It also explores a number of substantive issues through the lens of the right to health which extend beyond the mere absence of injuries in the workplace, and includes prevention of disease in the workplace, environmental and industrial hygiene, harmful substances affecting workers, emerging technologies, psychosocial hazards and occupational health services. Finally, it investigates methods of accountability and remedies required by the right to occupational health. 2. In order to achieve the full realization of the right to occupational health as a fundamental component of the right to health, a broad understanding of the relationship between work and health must be adopted. Accordingly, an examination of occupational health must include consideration of harmful exposures during work, specific varieties of working conditions, working environment, working relationships, and the social, environmental and political contexts in which work is situated. 3. Since the establishment of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the landscape of work and the relationships between workers and employers has changed dramatically as a result of, amongst other things, globalization and the growth of transnational corporations. These phenomena have had a significant impact on the occupational health of workers. At the same time, the contemporary understanding of work has been greatly enriched by the recognition and examination of the informal economy as a persistent and substantial portion of the modern, globalized economy, and the source of work for millions of individuals. This has been cause for the re-evaluation of traditional approaches to the promotion and protection of occupational health. 4. Globalization can be defined as the increasing global interconnectedness of economic, political, social and cultural affairs. Trade liberalization and the proliferation of free trade agreements are central to this increasing economic interconnectedness. The migration of production and distribution networks and facilities from the developed to the developing world has increased as transnational corporations domiciled in more developed States produce more goods in the developing world for sale in developed markets. This migration is driven by the availability of cheap labour and the prevalence of weak environmental and labour regulations in the developing world. In some instances, special economic zones have been established that weaken or preclude regulations intended to protect workers‟ rights, including those relating to occupational health, within a specified area in order to attract the production and distribution operations of transnational corporations. Free trade agreements have been used for similar purposes. As a result, a growing numbers of workers are employed in workplace environments lacking adequate protections for their occupational health. At the same time, workers in the developed world, particularly migrants and workers in emerging technologies, are exposed to workplace hazards that are inadequately regulated or outside the purview of existing occupational health regimes. 5. A right to health approach to occupational health is particularly critical in light of these developments. This approach requires States to intervene directly in order to fulfil the right to occupational health of workers in the formal and informal economy; facilitate the direct participation of workers in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of occupational health laws and policies; to implement regulation towards the 3