The WHSS has been crafted in June 2005. Six years thereafter, by the year 2010, a national action agenda has been outlined. This change has been prompted by the continuing work toll and the review of the WHSS among others. The action agenda “sharpens the focus and bridges the gap between the WHSS and the activities of the workers on the frontline”.1
Still, health and safety in a June 2011 report showed that ratings are not going down. The financial and social costs of the work toll are too high at $16 billion a year.2 It was thus timely to evaluate the implementation of the same. It was useful to examine how the WHSS impacts on the health and safety practices in the workplace and the challenges faced by stakeholders, management, workers, and government implementers. The WHSS used among others, partnering and collaborating in bringing about behavioural changes, and information dissemination and marketing.
Other countries have also health and safety strategies. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia have elevated their focus on safety and quality improvement to the national level by coming up with national performance indicators (Mcloughlin, Leatherman et al. 2001). Their strategies focus on public reporting, establishing national bodies and use of incentives. The review Mcloughin found that these countries’ experience (2001:461) “indicates the need to performance reporting at the national level for purposes of accountability from reporting at a local level needed to build knowledge of effective and safe care processes. “