World Day for Safety and Health at Work - April 28
Each year on April 28th, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is observed across the world to mark the signing of the first International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on occupational safety and health – No. 155 – in 1981. The theme for the 2022 World Day is "Enhancing social dialogue towards a culture of safety and health".
Background
In 2003, the International Labour Organization (ILO), began to observe World Day in order to stress the prevention of accidents and diseases at work, capitalizing on the ILO's traditional strengths of tripartism and social dialogue.
This celebration is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO, as documented in the Conclusions of the International Labour Conference in June 2003. One of the main pillars of the Global Strategy is advocacy, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is a significant tool to raise awareness of how to make work safe and healthy and of the need to raise the political profile of occupational safety and health.
28 April is also the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers organized worldwide by the trade union movement since 1996.
What does a safe and healthy work culture look like?
As defined by the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187):
A culture in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is respected at all levels, where governments, employers, and workers actively participate in securing a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities, and duties, and where the principle of prevention is accorded the highest priority.
To promote a preventative safety and health culture, actions are needed at both the workplace and national levels. At the national level, it is vital that the government as a whole, involving all the relevant ministries, commits to building and maintaining such a preventative safety and health culture, ensuring that workers’ health and safety are considered a priority on the national agenda. Adequate means and resources need to be allocated to increase general awareness of OSH, knowledge of hazards and risks, and an understanding of their prevention and control.
Why is this observance important?
According to the ILO, around 2.9 million workers die each year due to occupational accidents and diseases, and at least 402 million people suffer from non-fatal occupational injuries. It was also estimated that work-related diseases were responsible for 81% of all work-related deaths, with deaths due to occupational injuries accounting for the remaining 19% of work-related deaths.
The occupational risk factor with the largest number of attributable deaths was exposure to long working hours, followed by exposure to particular matter, gases, and fumes.
Not only do occupational injuries and illness cause immeasurable human suffering to victims and their families, but they also entail major economic losses for enterprises and economies as a whole – which may be measured in terms of healthcare costs, compensation costs, production losses, reduced work capacity, and lower workforce participation. Occupational accidents and diseases are estimated to contribute to 5.4% of annual global domestic product (GDP) lost. Less tangible costs contribute towards broadening the economic impact; these include presenteeism (working with less effectiveness), productivity losses associated with permanent impairment, and staff-turnover costs (i.e. loss of skilled staff).
Over 300 million workers interviewed from 142 countries stated that they feel they cannot report safety issues to their employers without fear of punishment. This lack of reporting can lead to serious preventable injuries due to fear. Conversely, workplaces with higher worker engagement reported 64% fewer safety incidents and 58% fewer hospitalizations.
Giving appropriate priority to the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases and providing adequate investments in occupational safety and health (OSH) will contribute to sustainable economies, thereby ensuring a healthy workforce and supporting productive enterprises.
Prevention of occupational accidents and diseases
The annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on the magnitude of the problem and on how promoting and creating a safety and health culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.
Each of us is responsible for stopping deaths and injuries on the job. As governments we are responsible for providing the infrastructure — laws and services — necessary to ensure that workers remain employable and that enterprises flourish; this includes the development of a national policy and program and a system of inspection to enforce compliance with occupational safety and health legislation and policy. As employers, we are responsible for ensuring that the working environment is safe and healthy. As workers, we are responsible to work safely to protect ourselves and not endangering others, knowing our rights, and participating in the implementation of preventive measures.
Emerging risks at work
New and emerging occupational risks may be caused by technical innovation or by social or organizational change, such as:
- New technologies and production processes, e.g. nanotechnology, biotechnology
- New working conditions, e.g. higher workloads, work intensification from downsizing, poor conditions associated with migration for work, jobs in the informal economy
- Emerging forms of employment, e.g. self-employment, outsourcing, temporary contracts
They may be more widely recognized through better scientific understanding, e.g. the effects of ergonomic risks on musculoskeletal disorders. They may be influenced by changes in perceptions about the importance of certain risk factors, e.g. the effects of psychosocial factors on work-related stress.
We have learned from past crises that workplaces can be of vital importance to prevent and control outbreaks. Adequate safety and health measures at work can play a crucial role in containing the spread of the disease while protecting workers and society at large. Governments, employers, and workers all have a role to play in tackling the COVID-19 crisis, and their collaboration is key.
Acting together to build a positive safety and health culture
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen that having a strong OSH system, which includes meaningful participation of governments, employers, workers, public health actors and all relevant parties at the national and enterprise level, has been crucial in protecting working environments and safeguarding the safety and health of workers.
Through effective social dialogue, governments and social partners actively participate in all phases of OSH decision-making processes. This is important for the development and revision of OSH policy and regulatory frameworks to address persistent and new OSH challenges, to the actual application at the workplace level. Social dialogue not only contributes to improving OSH policies and strategies, but it is also essential to build ownership and commitment, easing the way for their rapid and more effective implementation.
At the workplace level, a strong OSH culture is one in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is valued and promoted by both management and workers. A positive OSH culture is built on inclusion, through the meaningful involvement of all parties in the ongoing improvement of safety and health at work. In a workplace with a strong OSH culture, workers feel comfortable raising concerns about possible OSH risks or hazards in the workplace and management is proactive in collaborating with workers to find appropriate, effective and sustainable solutions. This requires open communication and dialogue built on trust and mutual respect.
As we continue to live through a global health crisis and face ongoing OSH risks in the world of work, we must continue to move toward building a strong safety and health culture at all levels.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/work-safety-day
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C155