Address
by
Her Honour Mrs. Heather Seale
the President of the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago
at the Special Sitting of
the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago
to mark the Opening of the 2026/2027 Law Term
Wednesday 16th September, 2026
Watch the full address: https://youtu.be/iRfiVtYwBVo?si=-D7KONdWT9dxMykI
Earlier this year I spoke at a forum at which I addressed the VUCAH environment as it relates to the workplace. The term VUCAH as you may know, describes an environment which is volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous and hyper-connected.1 That is an accurate description of the context within which organisations presently operate. A technological development may alter established jobs. A cyber incident may disrupt operations-we are well aware of this having suffered an attack on our website. A complaint may circulate beyond the workplace in minutes. A shift in demand may require rapid adjustment. A public institution may be expected to deliver more responsive service with limited resources. An employer, including courts may have to balance cost, output, public expectation, employee wellbeing, legal risk and industrial stability, all at the same time. I pointed to the example of the many seafarers who were stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, to show that an unanticipated conflict may turn what was a routine workday into an unpredictable, seemingly unending traumatic event.
The VUCAH environment points to the need to pay greater attention to the psychosocial working environment. ILO publication ‘The psychosocial working environment Global developments and pathways for action’2 reports that:-
“According to the latest estimates released by the ILO for the first time in the global report the psychosocial working environment: Global developments and pathways for action psychosocial risk factors are responsible for more than 840,000 deaths annually due to associated cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders. These risks also lead to nearly 45 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost each year. The combined impact of cardiovascular disease and mental disorders associated with psychosocial risk factors is estimated to result in 1.37 per cent of global GDP lost annually.”
In the VUCAH environment, employers and trade unions may well have to place more emphasis on the provision of services offered in Employee Assistance Programmes. Of four hundred and seventy-three collective agreements registered in the Industrial Court between 2021 and up to June 2026, sixty-five of those collective agreements included a clause covering EAP. In some of instances, there were no concrete provisions, merely an undertaking to discuss the EAP.