What is OSH Literacy?

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) literacy is the ability to find, understand and use safety and health information to reduce or eliminate risks to people, property and the planet.

Why is OSH Literacy Important?

• Most accidents are preventable: Poor communication and human error cause the majority of accidents at work and in everyday life.
• Injuries and fatalities are a serious issue: Millions of people die each year from preventable accidents and illnesses in work, public spaces and at home. Children are especially vulnerable.
• Everyone has the right to safety: OSH literacy empowers people to protect themselves and others.
• It’s a global need: OSH literacy is essential for everyone, everywhere.

We’re Making a Difference

OSH literacy is an informal, international, non-profit, advocacy organization dedicated to improving safety and health, especially for at-risk groups, through education. Although small in size, we have  worked with many different local, regional national and international institutions, businesses and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to raise awareness and to make safety information accessible to all.

Key Milestones:

• 2024 – present: OSH literacy’s campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of accredited (unregulated) workplace Safety, Health and Wellbeing (SHW) credentials and services and those who sell them, is beginning to get results.
• 2023 – present: Call for better regulation and quality in OSH teaching and training resources.
• June 2023: International Standards Organisation (ISO) published Plain Language Guidelines, (ISO: 24495) helping to make OSH information easier to understand for which we advocated for a number of years.
• June 2022: The International Labor Organisation (ILO) recognized OSH, a safe workplace, as a fundamental right for workers.
• May 2020: OSH literacy is nominated for the UNESCO World Literacy Award by the UNESCO Office in Ireland run by the Irish Department of Education.
• Sept’ 2017: International Social Security Association (ISSA) launched the Global Vision Zero programme at the World OSH Conference in Singapore. Dave Magee participated and is named as one of the ‘People behind Vision Zero’ for his work to make OSH accessible to all.

OSH Literacy®” is a registered trademark.

Unfortunately, OSH education and training is still largely unregulated. Anyone can seemingly claim expertise, which often leads to negative outcomes. Since 2014 we have advocated for OSH literacy to be recognised as a life-skill, functional literacy and for accessible, high quality and professional OSH literacy education and training for all. We are all full-time, experienced, dedicated, professionally qualified, state-registered teachers who also hold numerous regulated OSH-related qualifications. We voluntarily offer training and resources to at-risk and disadvantaged groups and those who work with them, when we can.

OSH Literacy® was registered after we became aware that, in several regions, unqualified and inexperienced individuals and organizations were using our name and logo to offer commercial OSH literacy training and resources while falsely implying affiliation with OSHliteracy.org. We were advised that registration was the most effective and cheapest way to stop this and protect the integrity of our reputation.

The trademark simply protects our ‘brand’. It is a Quality Mark. It does not, and legally cannot, restrict use of the general term ‘OSH literacy’ or the underlying concept, which is widely used in academic literature and by other organizations worldwide. Related terms such as occupational health and safety (OHS), safety, health and environment (SHE), and workplace safety and health (WSH) literacy are likewise not trademarked by us or, to our knowledge, by anyone else. These terms are also established in the academic canon and remain freely available to all.

Anyone can use ‘OSH literacy’ and these related terms descriptively as concepts, ideas, or for educational and training content provided this is not used to imply affiliation with, or endorsement by OSHliteracy.org and provided ‘OSH Literacy’ is not adopted as a commercial brand or product name for education, training and resources unless we have given our consent. If you see our name being used in this way, please notify us.

OSHliteracy.org strongly advises against entrusting critical OSH and well-being education, training and curriculum development to persons who may only hold unregulated qualifications, especially if those qualifications were gained online in less than a day or week – regardless of the provider.  Please undertake basic due diligence when selecting a training provider and/or resources; ask to see qualifications (most countries have online qualification checkers) prior experience and a police clearance report.

Join us in making the world a safer place!