Transformative Technology for Decent Work (TT4DW)

Transformative Technology for Decent Work

The ILO, through the labour administration, labour inspection and safety and health at work Branch and the Transformative Technology for Decent Work (TT4DW), engage labour administration and inspection institutions to harness the power of digital technology. The initiatives support the development of Electronic Case Management Systems (ECMS), pilot reimagined technologies, and conduct research and knowledge sharing on innovative use cases from around the world.

Electronic Case Management Systems

Well conceptualized and implemented Electronic Case Management Systems (ECMS) provide unparalleled opportunities to make labour inspectorates more efficient, effective, and ultimately strategic. ECMS can standardize procedures for common labour inspection actions. They can enable traceability and oversight of those actions, which increases transparency and protects due process. They facilitate the collection and analysis of results of compliance initiatives and promote evidence-led decision making. ECMS facilitate improved information exchange with workers, employers, other government agencies, and the public by automating report generation. LABADMIN/OSH assists labour inspectorates seeking to build or enhance ECMS. Some examples:

Colombia
Funding for these systems was provided by the United States Department of Labor under multiple cooperative agreement. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations.

Philippines
Funding for these systems was provided by the United States Department of Labor under multiple cooperative agreement. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations.

Sri Lanka
Funding for these systems was provided by the United States Department of Labor under multiple cooperative agreement. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations.

Bangladesh
This web application was developed by the Department of Inspections for Factories and Establishments with the support of the International Labour Organization’s ‘Improving Working Conditions in the Bangladesh Ready-Made Garment Sector’ programme funded by Canada, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

In-House Technology Pilots

An ever-expanding number, variety, and use of technologies open exciting opportunities to enhance the service delivery of institutions of work and propel the promotion of labour law compliance into a new age. LABADMIN/OSH and TT4DW pilot reimagined technologies in the service of labour administration and inspection institutions.

Strategic Compliance Portal (SCPortal): To overcome the challenges in supporting member States in the design and implementation of Strategic Compliance Plans, during the COVID-19 pandemic, LABADMIN/OSH designed and launched the SCPortal. The web-based channel facilitates the collaborative design and implementation of SCPs to promote labour law compliance and Decent Work (SDG 8). The SCPortal enables labour inspectorates of member States to develop and analyze results of innovative compliance interventions deployed in priority sectors. An interactive dashboard enables data visualization of the ILO’s harmonized labour inspection statistics and analytics for evidence-based decision making to support the design of future interventions. Institutional strengthening of labour regulators via digital capacity building, such as through the SCPortal, is a response to the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and the human-centred approach called for by the ILO Centenary Declaration for a Future of Work. The SCPortal is password protected, compatible with use of mobile devices, and available in 5 languages.

DecentWorkChatbot: LABADMIN/OSH, through its Vision Zero Fund, piloted the DecentWorkChatbot – a public platform to identify OSH deficits throughout a national value chain. The objective of the chatbot is to empower actors along the value chain not normally reached through standard survey methods. The “crowd” identifies anonymized OSH deficits. The data can then be used to develop a strategic approach to promoting compliance and enhance safety and health across the value chain. The chatbot was piloted in Mexico for the coffee value chain during the coffee growing season in 2020. Integrated with a social media page, and promoted though targeted social media advertisements, it reached over 300,000 people from the largest coffee producing region, with over 4,000 people interacting with the material on the page.

Cocreation and Knowledge Sharing

Modernizing Labour Administration and Inspection through Transformative Technology:

Key partners from labour administration and inspection institutions and the private technology ecosystem were joined by more than 200 attendees from across the Americas and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, MENA and Europe for the two-day virtual event "Modernizing Labour Administration and Inspection through Transformative Technology", organized by LABADMIN/OSH and the Transformative Technology for Decent Work (TT4DW) initiative.

The objective of the event was to explore the role technology is playing, or could play, to support modern, coherent, and coordinated labour administration and inspection institutions, and design a roadmap to facilitate technology upskilling by these institutions.

Watch the highlights video here.