Career development

Ipieca Launches Online Labor Rights Training

Training supports oil, gas, and alternative energy industries and respects the rights of all workers.

An Oilfield Worker in His Thirties Pumps Down Lines at an Oil and Gas Drilling Pad Site on a Cold, Sunny, Winter Morning
Oil, gas, and alternative energy projects use large amounts of labor at different stages in the project life cycle, often brought in by contractors and suppliers.
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Ipieca has published its free online labor rights training. Developed with the contribution of Building Responsibly and hosted on the Supply Chain Sustainability School’s e-learning platform, the training consists of 12 modules which aim to improve awareness of labor rights issues among those responsible for working conditions and labor practices, so that they can better recognize problems and address them appropriately.

What’s Covered by the Training?

The training includes modules on child labor, fair recruitment, wages, worker representation and engagement, working hours and overtime, nondiscrimination and equal opportunities, worker accommodation, procurement, worker grievance mechanisms, and forced labor.

Each module includes introductory text, videos, case studies, a one-pager of key lessons, and quiz questions to test understanding. Links to relevant additional resources and Ipieca guidance are also included in the modules.

Who Is the Training for?

The online labor rights training is suitable for:

  • Facilities providers, recruitment companies, and labor providers
  • Those working in roles such as human resources; environment, health and safety; and procurement
  • Anyone involved in the day-to-day management of labor, such as operations managers, construction managers, or project managers.

Why Are Labor Rights Important?

Companies have a responsibility to respect human rights, which includes labor rights. This means respecting the rights of all workers, not only those directly employed by the company, but also those employed through subcontractors and other intermediaries at all stages of the working relationship.

Oil, gas, and alternative energy projects use large amounts of labor at different stages in the project life cycle, often brought in by contractors and suppliers. Therefore it is important that those people responsible for working conditions and labor practices understand the rights that workers are entitled to and how to spot possible cases of exploitation.

Ipieca and Labor Rights

Human rights are core to Ipieca’s work, forming a central part of our vision to advance environmental and social performance across the energy transition as well as being covered in two of the eight Ipieca Principles, which are a condition of Ipieca membership.

Ipieca produces practical tools and resources to help the industry identify, manage, and mitigate social risks in its activities and among suppliers.

The online labor rights training is part of Ipieca’s wider work and engagement to:

  • Promote high standards and good practice aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights.
  • Convene the industry to advance social performance along the supply chain.

Find out more about Ipieca’s work to embed human rights across the oil, gas and alternative energy industries.