From Globalization to Circular Economy, Which Issues for Health and Safety at Work?

Circular economy is presented as an alternative to promote sustainable and responsible development. This economic model involves deep organizational and production changes. INRS, the French institute for occupational safety and health, conducted a strategic foresight approach in order to assess its potential impact on working conditions and therefore, on health and safety at work. The aim was to anticipate future needs for the prevention of occupational risks by 2040. Indeed, if circular economy offers the opportunity for a better integration of prevention, this may cause also adverse effects on workers’ safety and health. The first step of the study was to set up a 15-member team, associating OSH, foresight and circular economy experts who followed the exercise from start to finish. In association with partners outside the group, they identified the main key influencing drivers in the development of circular economy. Each of these drivers was then documented, in order to consider contrasted hypotheses of development in the future. Then, they built together global scenarios combining several hypotheses considering the drivers most likely to have an effect on working conditions and consequently on safety and health. They then drew up four stories, taking into account specific sectors and aspects of professional activity in order to make more concrete the potential consequences of different modes of circular economy development. OSH experts could translate them in terms of health and safety issues in order to reflect on the most relevant subjects to be taken into account in the future by INRS.