Occupational Safety & Health · Framework

OSH organisations and networks

The international, European, national and Georgian bodies that set standards, produce evidence and run prevention — what each is for and how GILS uses them.

Last updated: 3 October 2026

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Overview

Safety and health at work is organised through a small number of institutions whose outputs the rest of the field relies on: the ILO and WHO for standards and global estimates; EU-OSHA and Eurofound for European data and tools; ISSA, ICOH, IALI and IOHA as the professional and scientific networks; and a group of national institutes — NIOSH, HSE, INRS, DGUV, FIOH, KOSHA and others — whose research and guidance set the benchmark for national systems. GILS draws on all of them and lists them here with what each is best used for. Listing does not imply any partnership with or endorsement of GILS.

International


Organisation	Role	Use it for
International Labour Organization — OSH and Working Environment Branch (OSHE)	UN agency setting labour standards; conventions, Global Strategy 2024–2030, global estimates	Standards, ratification status, global estimates, ILO-OSH 2001, codes of practice
World Health Organization — Occupational health	UN health agency; workers' health as public health; Joint Estimates with the ILO	Burden of disease, health-worker guidance, mental health at work, chemical safety
International Social Security Association (ISSA)	Global association of social security institutions; Vision Zero prevention strategy; co-organiser of the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work	Prevention culture, the Vision Zero 7 Golden Rules, insurance-based prevention models
International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH)	The international scientific society for occupational health, founded 1906; 37 scientific committees; triennial congress; Code of Ethics	Scientific evidence, expert networks, ethics for occupational health professionals
International Association of Labour Inspection (IALI)	Global association of labour inspectorates; code of integrity for inspection	Inspection practice and benchmarks for the Labour Inspection Service
International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA)	Federation of occupational hygiene associations; recognises professional certification	Exposure measurement, hygiene professional standards
International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO)	The ILO's training arm in Turin	OSH courses for inspectors, specialists and policy-makers
Vision Zero Fund (ILO)	ILO flagship fund financing OSH improvement in global supply chains	Project models, funding routes for OSH programmes

European


Organisation	Role	Use it for
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)	EU agency; the richest OSH knowledge platform in Europe: OSHwiki, OiRA risk assessment tools, OSH Barometer, ESENER survey, Healthy Workplaces campaigns	Benchmark data, free risk assessment tools, campaign materials, directive guidance
Eurofound	EU agency for living and working conditions; European Working Conditions Survey; co-author of "Working life in Georgia"	Working conditions data, Georgia profile, comparative labour relations
European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) — Health and Safety	Research institute of the European trade union movement	Workers' perspective, EU policy analysis, HesaMag
PEROSH	Partnership of 14 European national OSH research institutes	Joint research agendas, access to national institutes
European Network for Workplace Health Promotion (ENWHP)	Network of national institutes on workplace health promotion	Health promotion models, the WHO Healthy Workplace approach in practice
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), United Kingdom	National regulator; annual statistics, guidance by industry, RIDDOR reporting	Model for annual OSH statistics and plain-language employer guidance
Institut national de recherche et de sécurité (INRS), France	National research and prevention institute funded by social insurance	Technical guidance, exposure databases, training materials
Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV) and BAuA, Germany	Statutory accident insurance (DGUV) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)	Insurance-based prevention, statistics by sector, research
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH)	National research institute; WHO Collaborating Centre; Nordic model of occupational health services	Occupational health services, work ability, research methods

National institutes outside Europe


Organisation	Role	Use it for
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), United States	US federal research institute within CDC; NORA research agenda, Total Worker Health, Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards, Worker Health Charts	Research evidence, exposure limits, hierarchy of controls, data tools
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), United States	US federal regulator and enforcement agency	Standards, enforcement data, employer guidance
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)	National centre; fact sheets and e-courses in plain language	Fact sheets as a model for public information
Safe Work Australia	National policy body; model laws and codes; national statistics	Model work health and safety laws and codes of practice
Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA)	National agency; research, certification, inspection support	Rapidly developed national OSH system as a comparator
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan (JNIOSH)	National research institute	Research on ageing workforce and overwork
Institute for Work & Health (IWH), Canada	Independent research institute on work injury prevention and return to work	Systematic reviews, return-to-work evidence
National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH), South Africa	National institute; WHO Collaborating Centre; co-author of the WHO–ILO health-worker guide	Health-worker OSH programmes in a middle-income setting

Georgia


Organisation	Role	Use it for
Labour Inspection Service of Georgia	Public body for labour and OSH inspection under the Ministry	Annual reports; accident statistics
Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC)	National trade union centre; member of ITUC	Workers' positions on OSH; calls for ratification
Georgian Employers' Association (GEA)	National employers' organisation; member of the IOE	Employers' positions on OSH
National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC)	National public health institute	Disease surveillance, hepatitis C elimination, occupational health capacity
Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG)	Host institution of GILS	GILS research programme

GILS partners


Partner	Role in the GILS OSH programme
Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG)	Host institution; legal responsibility and funding; the public health perspective
David Tvildiani Medical University (DTMU), School of Public Health	Academic partner: the 2027 survey of health workers, student research, certificate courses
Accréditation Sans Frontières (ASF)	Partner for staff safety requirements in hospital and clinic accreditation standards and training
Ergonomics Association of Georgia	Partner for ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders: assessment methods, workplace guidance, training

Partnership roles are as agreed within the GILS programme; partners do not review GILS publications before release (see Independence & Funding).

What the strongest OSH websites have in common

A data platform — EU-OSHA's OSH Barometer, HSE's annual statistics, NIOSH's Worker Health Charts: indicators updated on a published schedule.
Practical tools for employers — EU-OSHA's OiRA free risk assessment tools (hundreds of sector tools across national partners), CCOHS fact sheets, HSE guidance by industry.
A knowledge base — OSHwiki, the ILO Encyclopaedia, the NIOSH Pocket Guide.
Campaigns with a fixed calendar — the World Day on 28 April, EU-OSHA's Healthy Workplaces campaigns, ISSA's Vision Zero.
Networks and awards — national focal points, good-practice awards, congress series (the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, ICOH).
Plain language in the national language — every national institute publishes first for its own workers and employers.

Public health perspective (WHO)

WHO works through a global network of Collaborating Centres for Occupational Health — including FIOH, NIOH and NIOSH listed above — which implement the Global Plan of Action on Workers' Health. Georgia has no WHO Collaborating Centre in occupational health in published sources; the NCDC and PHIG are the national public health bodies through which that perspective can be carried. Workers' health: the public health perspective.

Sources

ILO. Safety and health at work (topic portal). www.ilo.org
EU-OSHA. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. osha.europa.eu
EU-OSHA. OiRA national partners. oira.osha.europa.eu
WHO and ILO (2022). Caring for those who care (acknowledging NIOH and other collaborating centres). www.who.int

Figures are from the GILS Evidence Register and the official sources shown. GILS is independent of government, trade unions, employers' organisations and the ILO.