The ILO tripartite Standard-setting Committee on Biological Hazards took place between 2-12 June 2025 in Geneva (Switzerland). It negotiated the final texts of the new Convention 192  (C192) and its accompanying Recommendation 209 (R209)  on Biological Hazards in the Working Environment adopted on 13th June  by vote of the Plenary of the 113th International Labour Conference (ILC).  

C192 and R209 will now be submitted for adoption at the next ILO Governing Body.

Convention 192 and Recommendation 209 fill a longstanding void in international labour standards

The adoption of C192 and R209 marks a landmark moment as together they provide strong, reliable guidance to governments and social partners on how to effectively protect workers from increasingly frequent, evolving, multiple and complex biological risks arising at the workplace.

 The negotiation process was triggered by the reckoning of the normative gap in occupational safety and health (OSH) international labour law on biological hazards in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, the only ILO instrument specifically covering biological hazards before C192 and R209 was the Anthrax Prevention Recommendation (R3 1919), now superseded by the new instruments. Regardless, C192 and R209 are not just pandemic-focussed: they go much beyond covering a wide range of emerging and re-emerging biological hazards and aim at protecting workers at all times, not only during public health emergencies. Besides, the new instruments cover all workers, in all industries, branches and occupations – very much including public service workers; and require the consultation of the most representative organisations workers and employers at each stage of implementation.

PSI achievements

Biological hazards are a very serious issue for all public service workers and PSI affiliate members, many of whom work in high-risk professions and working environments. Indeed, biological risks for public service workers not only occur as an occupational risk arising from the workplaces where they carry out their professional duties, but also from the fact that biological hazards often are at the core of their job’s mission. For example, the removal of biological hazards from the public space, water or hospitals are what namely waste workers, water and sanitation workers, and medical facilities janitors are paid for. 

Through the consultation of affiliates, the development of joint positions, several expert contributions, model submissions for affiliate use in ILO’s social partner consultations, as well as through significant affiliate mobilisation since the onset of the process and during the negotiations, PSI played an important role both in the tripartite process and within the workers’ group. It inspired, provided and influenced principles and language that ended up in many amendments, some of which made it into the text. 

In particular, PSI was successful in integrating language in the C192 and R209 on the following points, among others:

• wide scope of definition of “biological hazards” (C192: Art. 1 [a])

• coverage of all public sector and public service workers (C192: Art. 1 [e])

• application to all workers and all branches of economic activity (C192: Art. 2 [1])

• recognition of the mental health dimension related to biological hazards and the need to take those into account in developing effective preparedness and response measures (C192: Art. 4 [c])

• connection of the impact of climate and environmental risks on the exposure  to biological hazards in the working environment (C192: Art. 4 [d])

• gender-responsive considerations on the different levels of exposures and risk (although “gender-responsive” was replaced by “faced by women and men” (C. 192: Artt. 4 [f] and 16)

• access to whistle-blower reporting mechanisms and protection from retaliation (C. 192: Art. 6) although whistle-blower was replaced by the expression “those who report”, “workers and their representatives”

• references to precautionary measures for the control of biological hazards in the working environment (C. 192: Artt. 7 [1], 8 [1], 16 [g])

• recognition and specific provisions for sectors and occupations of workers at high risk of recognised harm (C. 192: Artt. 7 [2] [c] (i), 9 [a]).

  This recognition is further specified in R209, with a specific mention of the need to pay special attention to the situations of workers in high-risk sectors, including healthcare [a]; water and waste management [c]; cleaning and maintenance [d]; laboratory, biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors [f, g], funeral services and mortuary work [h]; and occupations that are critical to the functioning of society and its well-being during public health emergencies [l].

• recognition and specific provisions for vulnerable workers “who may require special protection” (C. 192: Artt. 7 [2] [c] (ii), 9 [a], 16 [a]; R. 209: Art. 11).

• policy, interagency, interservice policy and action coherence and coordination; national and  international cooperation among national agencies, services, labour and OSH inspectorates and authorities, national and international organisations and research institutions  (C. 192:  Preamble, Artt. 5 [a], 9 [b]; R. 209: Art. 12 [d] [e])

  This is further specified under R209 [i] with the requirement to establish “collaboration between relevant national and international public health, water and waste management, environmental health, occupational health and veterinary health authorities, labour inspectorates and other relevant experts and partners”;

• strong, adequately resources, staffed, trained and protected labour inspectorates to uphold the implementation of the convention (C192: Art. 13 [1] [2])

• cross-benchmarkable, disaggregated national OSH statistical data collection systems on biological hazards (C192: Section V)

• the need to provide adequate human resources to emergency services faced with biological hazards to ensure preparedness (R209: Art 12 [f]);

Veronica Black, Work Health and Safety (WHS) Lead Professional Officer at the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA), Australia said:“the adoption of the new ILO convention and recommendation on biological hazards is a huge win for workers and unions globally. It recognises what PSI affiliates have long fought for – protections for workers exposed to a wide range of biological hazards (with a broad definition), clear obligations on employers to manage risk in accordance with the hierarchy of controls and meaningful rights for workers and their representatives to participate in OSH processes.  It also acknowledges the serious physical and mental health impacts of biological hazards, the risks faced by workers in high exposure sectors, and the need for income protection during outbreaks”. 

Gerardo Juara, Secretary for the Environment of AGOEC (Argentina), said:  "C192 and R209 represent an unprecedented step forward in international labour law as they directly link OSH to the climate crisis and to social justice. For the first time, an ILO instrument recognises that climate change is not only an environmental challenge, but also a structural biological hazard factor affecting workers. At the same time, the inclusion of specific protection for whistle-blowers who alert around biological hazards contributes to workplace democracy by protecting workers’ right to raise concerns without fear of reprisals. This dual connection—- between climate and health and between reporting and workplace participation—marks a regulatory shift that can transform labour law into an active tool to address the eco-social challenges of our time”.

 Daria Cibrario, PSI Senior Policy Officer said: "C192 and R209 209 are much needed and extremely relevant instruments for all public service workers. The clear mention that the Convention applies to all branches including the public sector is key. The recognition of the high-risk nature of specific public service professions beyond healthcare in the Recommendation – notably water, waste, and funeral and mortuary services - was also a major achievement, as these workers are often invisible and marginalised in their communities and were often forgotten during the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The achievement of a five-year process 

This negotiation marked the conclusion of a long process started in 2021 with the ILO’s convening of a Tripartite Meeting of Experts on the technical guidelines on biological hazards (20–24 June 2022); that issued Technical guidelines on biological hazards in the working environment.  

Then, in 2022 the ILO released a Report on Biological Hazards in the Working Environment  and disseminated a survey calling on governments, employers and trade unions. As a result, ILO published the Report IV(2): "Protection against biological hazards in the working environment " in February 2024, which composited the responses of social partners to the questionnaire and presented a draft text for the tripartite negotiation that followed in 2024 at the 112nd ILC.

The outcome document of the discussion made clear the instrument would take the form of an international Convention supplemented by a Recommendation, although the text carried significant bracketed language that would have to be resolved in the 2025 negotiation because of many contentions issues and diverging positions of social partners.

In between 2024-2025 negotiations, the ILO published in August 2024 the a revised report that systematised the text and the language from the 2024 outcome documents and called for a further consultation of governments, workers and employers within 14 November 2024 on a number of contentious issues in a view to lay the groundwork for consensus in the 2025 negotiations. The result of the consultation led to an additional, last report  and its addendum  published in February and March 2025 that provided the basis for the negotiations that were completed in June 2025 at the 113th ILC.

PSI and affiliates mobilised from the onset for a strong convention and recommendation 

PSI and affiliates have been actively involved all along the process that led to the adoption of C192. PSI unions contributed with 24 replies to the survey the ILO disseminated in 2022 along with a first background report on “Biological Hazards in the Working Environment”. 

A representative from PSI affiliate the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Union (Australia) was already part of the 2022 Tripartite Meeting of Experts on the technical guidelines on biological hazards and continued to play leading roles in the 2024-2025 negotiations, together with many other PSI affiliates including AGOEC (Argentina), Unite the Union and UNISON (UK)[DC1] , PSILINK (the Philippines), CFDT Santé Sociaux, and the Hospital Workers Union of Togo (Synphot)[DC2] , SINDISEP (Brazil) who actively contributed in person with their expertise and brought the voice of public service workers to the Workers’ Group during the negotiations. 

PSI organised an affiliate consultation and briefing ahead of the 2024 negotiations, which resulted in a set of priorities and a common position that was handed to the ITUC and the ILO. In between negotiation years, the ILO called for a social partner consultation calling for comments within 14 December 2024 over the final report “Protection against biological hazards in the working environment” ILC.113/Report IV(3). Again, PSI held two “Online Consultation for PSI affiliates on Protection against Biological Hazards” on 4 November and 5 November 2024; prepared a model response (EN, FR, ES); and mobilised affiliates responses to the ILO within the deadline. 

PSI unions submitted 25 responses to the ILO from:  AGOEC (Argentina), ANEP (Costa Rica), ANPE (Costa Rica), APFMU (Pakistan), CFDT INTERCO (France), CTMRA (Argentina), DPSU (Dominica), FENASEP (Panama), FENOGOPRE (Ecuador), FNME-CGT (France), FP-CGIL (Italy), GSEA (Mauritius), JALGO (Jamaica), KPTU (Korea), MHPU (Maldives), NSWNMA (Australia), PSI, PSLINK (the Philippines), SIDEYTMS (Honduras), SINTRAMBIENTE (Colombia), SITIESPA (Panama), SITUN (Costa Rica) and UNISON (UK), UNITE the UNION (UK) and PSI itself. PSI’s contribution was well recognised in the final ILO report that represented the basis for the 2025 negotiations.

Next steps 

PSI and affiliates will now have to mobilise to promote ratification and implementation of C192 by their governments and the observance of R209 and promote training and knowledge building about the new instrument at the workplaces where PSI affiliates have members worldwide. 

Veronica Black, WHS Lead Professional Officer, NSWNMA, Australia said: “it was an honour to be part of this historic achievement. Now, the real work begins – PSI affiliates must campaign to ensure that their governments ratify the convention and implement these vital protections in law and practice. Together we can turn these hard-won international standards into real change in every workplace.”

Let’s make this happen together and save lives!