Mission: A safer world enabled by technology
Vision: To support the safe adoption of new technologies and accelerate the deployment of technology-enabled solutions.
Goals:
1. Build international consensus on universal safety practices in the face of rapid technological change.
2. Promote the latest safety innovations, particularly in developing countries in collaboration with industries, governments and innovators.
3. Reduce industrial accidents and enhance safety overall
6.7%
of deaths globally are work-related.
2.9 MILLION
people die because of work-related factors every year.
2.6 MILLION
die from work-related diseases.
330,000
die from occupational accidents.
The Global Initiative for Industrial Safety (GIFIS) brings together a global coalition of policymakers, manufacturers, innovators and thought leaders to put safety at the heart of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“GIFIS aims to drive the safe adoption of technology to address both emerging and persistent industrial safety challenges. By enabling industries to integrate new technologies responsibly, we help organisations stay ahead of the risks created by rapid innovation.”
“We confront critical safety issues, reduce hazards in high-risk environments, and promote global standards that strengthen workplace protection. Acting as a collaborative hub, GIFIS fosters a culture of safety while advancing practices and solutions that protect workers and build industrial resilience worldwide.
Beyond raising awareness, we deliver practical tools, resources, and communities of practice that transform collaboration into measurable impact.”
At the heart of our work is the Manifesto for Global Industrial Safety – a shared framework that sets out clear principles and actions for governments, industry, academia, regulators, and international organisations. The manifesto provides a roadmap for managing the safety risks of digitalisation and other technological shifts, ensuring collective progress toward safer, more secure industries.
Our Objectives.
The Global Initiative for Industrial Safety (GIFIS) is committed to fostering the safe integration of emerging technologies across industries.
Initiating policy, promoting best practice, and building capability.
Creating a global community to discuss future challenges and solutions.
Building consensus and sharing knowledge, leading to universal guidelines, standards, and training.
The Principles
1/5
1. Uphold the human right to safe working conditions
This principle sets out an overarching expectation that the global industrial community should embrace a renewed commitment to deliver a safe and healthy working environment as a fundamental human right, in line with recent international agreements and technological developments.
This commitment should ultimately be reflected in future-oriented safety action plans, with practical steps and realistic timelines, including up-to-date safety policies, procedures and processes, to achieve excellent safety in the workplace.
Safety action plans should be developed in consultation with workers at all levels of the organisation and cover all aspects of its operations. They should be seen as “live documents” to be regularly reviewed and updated.
Particular attention should be paid to the potential to leverage technology across all phases of the safety continuum: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
A new global industrial approach is needed whereby safety is recognised as a critical management issue at the highest levels of the organisation, and where it is part of discussions, not just on every factory floor but in every board meeting too.
2/5
2. Ensure that safety is central to digital decisions
This principle builds on the ambition to place safety at the core of our thinking about developing and deploying technology.
In a world where global safety needs are rapidly evolving, this principle ensures that companies and stakeholders take steps to identify and respond to new risks associated with novel technologies and their applications.
Particular attention should be paid to new sources of psychosocial risks that could affect the mental wellbeing of workers.
Organisations should prioritise a human-centric approach when integrating new technologies into industrial environments. This includes aligning with evolving guidelines, regulations and frameworks for responsible AI design, development and deployment.
To ensure that new risks are internalised, steps need to be taken to consider emerging cyber, physical and psychosocial risks for company policies, procedures and processes – including job instruction sheets and other day-to-day guidelines.
3/5
3. Exploit new digitally enabled safety solutions
While new technologies present new potential sources of risk to human safety and wellbeing, they can also provide unique solutions.
There are already some well-known technology solutions to existing problems – from high-altitude inspection drones to real-time safety-monitoring applications and intelligent personal protective equipment – but these need to be deployed globally to address long-standing safety challenges in many sectors.
Industrialists and safety professionals need to “see and touch” these solutions to support their implementation on the ground. Therefore, demonstration and awareness efforts need to be prioritised.
In addition, the industrial community needs to collaborate with innovators to proactively develop new approaches and solutions using emerging technologies.
This needs to be accompanied by global efforts to deploy technology solutions along supply chains and to develop the necessary safety skills for the future.
4/5
4. Share, monitor and promote safety lessons
This principle requires the development of a data-sharing and monitoring culture.
The principle builds on UNIDO’s call to share “knowledge, experiences, innovative approaches and technological solutions” to help one another secure industrial safety globally.[1]
Organisations should commit to building safety knowledge by sharing not only lessons learned and near misses but also best practice, know-how, data, tools and resources across firms, supply chains, sectors and countries.
Organisations should also monitor safety performance through the adoption of coherent metrics motivating continuous and consistent benchmarking of practices.
5/5
5. Support safety improvements in developing countries
While the safety challenge is universal, developing countries are disproportionately affected by safety issues and occupational accidents.
Many countries still lack a strong legislation framework and the know-how and infrastructure to implement it. A vast number of industrial workers in developing countries are based in informal workplaces.
This principle envisages a community of people, associations, companies, countries and stakeholders to join efforts to continuously and systematically support safety efforts in developing countries.
Such efforts should focus on strengthening national occupational safety and health (OSH) systems – through collaboration, education, intervention, budgetary support and institutional reforms.
This principle sets the expectation that no one should be left behind in the vision of a safer world enabled by technology.
OBJECTIVES
Worker safety & wellbeing is at the forefront of our mission.
Our Manifesto details specific actions for industry, governments, academia, regulators, and international bodies, emphasizing their roles in addressing global safety challenges, particularly those posed by digitalization. It is relevant to organizations of all sizes and spans the entire supply chain, from raw material suppliers to technology providers.
Get Involved
Be part of the change.
Founding organisations of GIFIS
Making the world a safer and more secure place for all.
