SCORE Pilot Experience Sharing Conference

On 24 June 2021 the Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Experience Sharing Conference was held by the ILO and Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) in Huzhou, China.

Press release | 24 June 2021
Huzhou (ILO News)—The conference purpose was to review the achievements of the cooperation project and the most successful practices in the pilot regions. The pilot enterprises discussed how SCORE Training helped them effectively improve workplace cooperation and enhance the enterprises occupational safety and health (OSH) management systems. The conference also highlighted the practices and impacts that SCORE Training had on the safe production practices of the participating SMEs over the past few years. In it’s summary address, the MEM announced that further research with be carried out and discussed to guide future work.

The ILO signed a cooperation agreement with the former State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) for the introduction of the SCORE programme in 2014. Over the past seven years, the pilot project achieved remarkable results as it gradually expanded to the regions of Sichuan, Zhejiang and Beijing. Through the SCORE Training pilot project, local training service providers were capacitated to deliver training on safety management, and the management skills of the pilot enterprises has been significantly improved. Through the implementation of full worker’s involvement and continuous improvement, workplace cooperation has been strengthened, and the sustainable development of the enterprises has been assured.


Ms. Martha Newton, ILO's Deputy Director-General for Policy, in her video message, reviewed that the SCORE Training pilot project in China has demonstrated an effective approach that could be scaled-up to a large number of SMEs in China to support them in improving productivity and working conditions. At the same time, she also expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Chinese Government for their partnership in the implementation of the SCORE programme over the past years. Thanks to the support from partners at all levels, action and improvements at the enterprise level have been encouraging, and have laid a good foundation for decent work in China.


Mr. Boris Zürcher , Head of the Labour Directorate, Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in his video message, expressed that the SCORE Training pilot project in China was very successful and markedly improved compliance with occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations. SECO encourage China to expand this efficient and effective approach to other provinces and municipalities, so that more Chinese enterprises and their employees may benefit from OSH improvements in the future.

Mr. Zhang Xubiao, ILO Project Manager, reviewed the development of the SCORE programme in China, and introduced results and achievements of it in supporting production safety and maintaining the long-term competitiveness of SMEs. He pointed out that this conference was a milestone for the implementation of the training in China. By reviewing the past and looking towards to the future, the MEM can promote the SCORE Training in the whole country, in order for the so methods and tools to contribute to production safety in China.

Mr. Ling Zhifeng, Director General of Zhejiang Provincial Emergency Department, introduced the best practices of the SCORE pilot implementation in Zhejiang and their three year promotional plan. The Director General of Huzhou Emergency bureau, Mr. Zhu Jianxiang, focus on the SCORE pilot in Huzhou and their policy on how to combine SCORE Training and safety management standardization in SMEs. He also presented their expansion plan to introduce SCORE across all SMEs in Huzhou.

Representatives of four pilot enterprises presented their experience and lessons learned in implementing the SCORE Training learning. A trainer representative indicated that SCORE Training enables trainers to equip SMEs with the necessary knowledge and tools, help enterprises improve productivity, reduce waste, enhance flexibility and resilience, which overall helps enterprises to better align with international labour standards, and promote decent work in global supply chains.

The SCORE pilot project has achieved positive impacts on promoting win-win solutions on safety and productivity management for SMEs, which has successfully combined worker participation with innovation mechanisms to ensure the integration of international and domestic safety management systems."

Mr. Song Yuanming, Vice Minister of MEM
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Song Yuanming, Vice Minister of the MEM, congratulated the achievements of SCORE pilot programme in Zhejiang. He highly appreciated the leadership of Zhejiang provincial emergency bureau, their guiding policy, and their three year plan to expand SCORE Training to more SMEs in Zhejiang from May 2020. He encouraged Huzhou province to summarize the SCORE pilot experience, and to ensure its continued implementation in a sustainable manner. Mr. Yuanmingalso responded to the speech of Ms. Newton, by thanking the ILO for the project’s partnership in China. Also in response to Mr Zürcher’s speech acknowledged the need to strengthen the collaboration with ILO on South-south and triangular collaboration in the future.

This was a conference to carry forward the Decent Work cause, and forge ahead into the future. It was an appropriate meeting to share the valuable experiences and lessons of the SCORE Training pilot, and to summarize the challenges and opportunities ahead. The valuable evidence from SCORE Training’s efficiency, institutional sustainability, module innovation and business process for further implementation, will contribute to the continued promotion of SCORE Training in China.