Safety and health at work
April 2011

It is an awareness-raising campaign promoted by the International Labor Organization (ILO), intended to focus international attention on emerging trends in the field of occupational safety and health and on the magnitude of work-related injuries, diseases and fatalities worldwide.

The 28th of April is also a day in which the world's trade union movement holds its International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers to honor the memory of victims of occupational accidents and diseases and organize worldwide mobilizations and campaigns on this date.

The celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO and promotes the creation of a global preventative safety and health culture involving all stakeholders.

In many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, employers’ organizations and safety and health practitioners organize activities to celebrate this date. We invite you to join us in celebrating this significant day and share with us the activities you organize.

Each of the 337 million workplace accidents that occur each year commonly results in extended absences from work.

The human cost of this daily tragedy is immeasurable. But the economic cost of working days lost, medical treatment and cash benefits paid out is estimated at 4 per cent of global GDP each year. This exceeds the total value of the stimulus packages introduced in the face of the economic crisis of 2008-09.

The Director-General of ILO stresses out that it is time to make a concerted effort to ensure that occupational safety and health is an integral element of strategies for strong, sustainable and balanced development. Workers and their families, enterprises, societies and economies stand to benefit.

Furthermore, Juan Somavia highlights the fact that, we are still dealing with the consequences of workplace hazards of the past. At the same time we are confronted with new occupational safety and health challenges in a world of work undergoing rapid transformation.

Many occupational hazards remain hidden and ignored, particularly in the informal economy.

On this World Day ILO draws our attention to the emerging risks and new approaches to prevention in a changing world of work. Technological progress is accompanied by new workplace risks, diverse employment arrangements and changing workforce demographics.

New risks have emerged in fields such as nanotechnology application, biotechnology and chemical handling. An ageing workforce and increases in the numbers of female workers, migrant workers and informal workers also have implications for occupational safety and health strategies.

Another striking development, says the Director-General of ILO, is the rise in psychosocial conditions linked to new stresses and strains of work in the global economy. Recently the adverse impact of the economic crisis on enterprises has taken its toll on many workers.

Prevention strategies must be responsive to this environment. And occupational safety and health management systems constantly reassessed and strengthened if they are to be up to the task of overcoming the legacy of poor practices in the past, meeting present challenges and anticipating the risks of the future.

Experience shows that prevention works for all.

In building and sustaining recovery, let us draw on the opportunity to shape integrated decent work strategies in which safety and health is a key component. In the wake of the crisis, let us act together to prevent a downward spiral in labor conditions and build recovery founded on safe work.

And Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, reminds all people and organizations concerned that a wide range of international labor standards and codes of practice on occupational safety and health is available to give guidance on reaching this goal.

On this World Day let us recommit to working together to translate them into sound policies and good practices that yield positive results for all.


Bibliography - Sources

1. International Labor Organization (ILO)
2. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
3. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety
4. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration