Transport is inherently mobile: workers, operations and goods are constantly on the move. Unlike most industries, transport work rarely takes place in a single, fixed workplace. Workers operate across borders, move between locations, and frequently work in environments shared with the public or beyond direct employer premises. This necessitates standards tailored to each transport mode.
Without context-specific standards, systemic gaps in the protection of workers’ human and labour rights expand, and the risk of exploitation and abuse increase – particularly where complex subcontracting chains blur accountability. Compliance with national legislation alone is insufficient to ensure compliance with international legal obligations and standards. Sector-specific approaches are critical to ensure that transport buyers and suppliers, and regulators, consistently meet their human and labour rights responsibilities.
Transport buyers and suppliers must extend HREDD beginning with risk mapping to every location where transport work takes place, and everywhere workers are required to be: in transport, these locations all constitute a ‘workplace’.
This includes any environment a transport worker uses, accesses or passes through – vehicles, fixed locations and operational facilities, public or shared workspaces, and routes or areas used to reach, leave or travel home from work. It also means ensuring safe sanitation and rest facilities at every location.
Cross-border transport workers must be recognised as mobile, migrant workers, exposed to heightened risks of exploitation, unsafe working conditions, discrimination and barriers to protection or remedy because of differences in jurisdiction, immigration status and employment arrangements. Companies and supply chain actors must actively identify and address these risks, and ensure migrant workers receive the protections, support and special measures that HREDD requires.