A/HRC/39/48 52. Temporary, including seasonal, workers often do not enjoy the same safety and health protection as that accorded to permanent or resident workers. Temporary workers are at greatly increased risk of occupational injury and illness. They may begin work at a new workplace many times a year and as new workers have generally less information about the hazards they face. Employers often have less commitment to providing education or making investments to protect temporary workers.54 Government guidance and inspection on safety and health may be limited. 5. Workers with disabilities 53. A worker with a disability may face additional risks or may be more susceptible to the consequences of exposure to toxic substances. Workers with disabilities tend to be employed in low-skilled jobs, on non-standard contracts such as part-time work or on temporary contracts. 6. Older workers 54. Older persons also face exposure to toxic substances at work. In general, ageing is associated with a decline in cognitive functions, health and recuperative ability, including decreased aerobic capacity, lower heat tolerance, reduced muscular strength and a decline in visual and hearing acuity. Any risks to which ageing workers are exposed because of their occupation will be superimposed on their existing health problems or will amplify the natural deterioration of their sensory and physical capacities. Regrettably, impacts of occupational exposure on the health of older workers are often attributed entirely to ageing, not to the exposure itself. E. Informal economy 55. National policies and programmes to promote safe and healthy working conditions should aim not only at the formal but also at the informal economy. In many developing countries, the number of those formally employed is small compared to those who work in the informal sector. Those working in the informal sector are usually not captured in statistics regarding the impacts of hazardous substances on workers. 55 F. Deliberate efforts to delay or obstruct protection from exposure to toxic substances 56. For economic gain, business enterprises have sought to delay the adoption of protective laws and regulations through targeted campaigns to distort science 56 and to exploit the financial insecurity of workers through the threat of job losses. These campaigns have in essence sought to undermine the rights of workers by threatening job losses and competitive disadvantages that exploit and capitalize on the economic fear of workers. Workers continue to fear pay cuts or termination if they refuse or remove themselves from work that exposes them to toxic substances. 57. Furthermore, business enterprises continue to distort evidence of intrinsic hazards, harmful exposure and other risk factors for various types of toxic chemicals (e.g. carcinogens). Business enterprises and their agents have engaged in targeted marketing campaigns to manufacture doubt and uncertainty regarding results of scientific studies that illustrate the risks and impacts upon the health of workers. 58. Efforts by business enterprises to hinder adoption of health-protective laws, exposure standards and improved practices illustrate the contempt of certain business 54 55 56 12 United States Department of Labor, Adding Inequality to Injury: The Costs of Failing to Protect Workers on the Job (2015). Hämäläinen, p. 7. David Michaels, ed., Doubt Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008).