Leptospirosis has struck again, this time affecting both Mauritius and Réunion.

Across the Indian Ocean, summer increasingly means extreme rainfall, flash floods and climate instability. Torrential downpours overwhelm drainage systems, waste accumulates, and stagnant water becomes a breeding ground for rodents. These conditions create the perfect environment for the spread of zoonotic diseases such as Leptospirosis, also known as Weil’s Disease, a potentially fatal bacterial infection caused by exposure to rat and other animal urine, which can start with mild flu-type symptoms but can cause serious kidney damage and other serious harm.

The simultaneous outbreaks on two islands in the same region are not coincidental. Climate change is accelerating biological risks.

For construction workers, the danger is immediate. Workers on building sites are routinely exposed to floodwaters, contaminated soil, inadequate sanitation and poorly managed waste. After heavy rains and flooding, construction workers are often the first to clear debris and begin reconstruction, increasing their exposure to contaminated materials and rodent-infested areas. Informal, migrant and subcontracted workers face even greater exposure, frequently without adequate protective equipment, training or access to health monitoring.

In Mauritius, unions are calling for the immediate adoption of a long-delayed Refuse Collection Regulation, under consultation for more than 13 years following a motion brought by the CTSP. The regulation is intended to prevent exposure to waste without proper protection, logistics and medical surveillance, and to safeguard workers’ health — particularly in the construction and agricultural sectors, where contact with contaminated waste and flood debris is frequent. Instead of implementing it, authorities are delaying the process, citing review by the State Law Office. At the same time, the privatisation of waste collection has expanded, including the recruitment of foreign workers, in the absence of a clear regulatory framework governing biological exposure. Combined with climate-driven waste accumulation, this gap in regulation increases risks for workers in both the public and private cleaning and waste collection sectors and urgently requires binding protections.Biological hazards are a structural occupational risk, intensified by climate change, environmental degradation and gaps in regulation and enforcement.

The newly adopted ILO Convention on Biological Hazards (C192), together with Recommendation 209, provides a global framework to address these risks. Its implementation falls squarely within the fundamental right to occupational safety and health, recognised by the ILO in 2022. Protecting workers from biological hazards is therefore not optional — it is part of a fundamental right at work.

It mandates that governments integrate biological hazard management into their national occupational safety and health systems. This includes mandatory workplace risk assessments, clear employer duties to eliminate or control exposure, provision of appropriate personal protective equipment, training, strengthened labour inspection, and full worker participation in OSH planning.

The outbreaks in Mauritius and Réunion are a warning, and unions on the ground are taking action to call for the ratification of C192 and to ensure that governments implement it fully to prevent future outbreaks. This action must now be taken more widely.

Climate-driven biological hazards are no longer a future risk. They are here. The labour movement must act now to secure binding protections that match the scale of the crisis. Prevention must replace reaction.

Action for Unions to promote the ILO Convention on Biological Hazards

1. Approach your government
Engage the relevant ministry and request the immediate start of the ratification process for C192. The Convention will enter into force once two governments have ratified it. Securing at least two ratifications in 2026 is crucial.
2. Identify shortfalls in existing law
Assess gaps in national legislation and demand amendments or new legal provisions to incorporate the protections contained in C192 and R209.
3. Embed protections in collective bargaining agreements
Negotiate clauses on biological hazards that reflect the standards of C192 and R209 in collective agreements, contracts and sectoral frameworks. Even where governments delay ratification, unions can ensure these standards are implemented in practice.
4. Request technical assistance from the ILO
National and regional ILO offices can provide technical assistance on ratification and implementation. Unions can both seek this support directly and encourage governments to do the same.

Further reading:
ITUC Action Paper on C192 and R209: https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/action_paper_biological_hazards_2026_en_v2.pdf#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=50721519-61fb-4f4a-b85f-82f71dbe0300&msdynmkt_prefill=mktprf180e582fed2c4c89b2bbf46430e7fe83eoprf

ITUC technical briefing on C192 and R209 : https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/technical_brief_biological_hazards_2026_en_v2.pdf#msdynmkt_trackingcontext=50721519-61fb-4f4a-b85f-82f71dbe0300&msdynmkt_prefill=mktprf180e582fed2c4c89b2bbf46430e7fe83eoprf