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World Day for Safety and Health at Work: 28 April
OSH Day 2010 (Image: ILO)
A safe and healthy workplace is a central concern of social security. Investment in prevention has led to a significant decrease in occupational accidents and diseases. It has saved millions of lives and prevented enormous human suffering. And investment in prevention makes economic sense. Increased health and productivity of workers are strategic assets not only for companies in local and global markets but for societies as a whole. Prevention pays.
New challenges to prevention
Much progress has been made – but important challenges remain. Experts estimate that 2.3 million people die each year through work-related accidents and diseases, and 270 million suffer non-fatal workplace accidents. And each year 160 million new cases of occupational illnesses are reported. The financial burden of compensation, health care, rehabilitation and invalidity is huge: A sum equivalent to 4 per cent of world GDP for work injuries alone. And for some developing countries, the cost can be as high as 10 per cent of GDP.
The current phase of globalization is accompanied by a growth in informal employment, increased migration and profound social shifts, posing new challenges to safety and health at work, especially in countries with less developed prevention cultures. New technologies, including nanotechnologies, ergonomic risks, as well as stress and psychosocial pressures, further increase the complexity of prevention.
Demographic changes, globalization and growing social inequalities make workers’ health an increasingly vital issue of economic and social progress. It is an indispensable element in the development and maintenance of human capital and of the capacity of individuals to be active in the labour market. People's safety and health at work is therefore also a crucial factor for the sustainability of social security schemes.
Workers’ health is increasingly determined by both occupational and non-occupational factors. Supporting workers’ health therefore requires a broad and integrated approach involving actors with different backgrounds and knowledge.
Health at work: A societal responsibility
To respond to these new challenges, there is growing awareness that workers’ health is no longer the concern of prevention actors alone. It is a societal responsibility to complement and support the long-standing efforts of occupational safety and health specialists.
Realizing improvements in workers’ health is increasingly an objective being pursued by many social security institutions across all branches of social security. Examples of preventive social security approaches that promote safety and health at work include programmes adopted through health care and disability insurance schemes, and through employment and family policies.
Promoting dynamic social security’s investment in health at work
Beyond the traditional focus on occupational safety and health, the ISSA supports social security policies that foster preventive approaches to protect and promote health at work in all branches of social security. Preventive approaches broaden the nature of social security policies. They are a cornerstone of what the ISSA calls dynamic social security.
The ISSA provides good practice information, research, expert advice and platforms for members and other stakeholders to exchange on innovation in workplace health promotion, active employment policies, rehabilitation and reintegration. The ISSA has established a network of experts who share our objective to invest in workers’ health worldwide. The expert network brings together the unique experience and knowledge and expertise from all branches of social security, fostering innovation and partnerships.
The ISSA's Special Commission on Prevention: A unique global forum for occupational safety and health
The ISSA's Special Commission on Prevention fosters the prevention of occupational risks and promotes improvements in the delivery of social security among ISSA members and other stakeholders concerned with safety and health. It works closely with other ISSA Technical Commissions concerned by workers’ health, such as the Commissions on Medical Care and Sickness Insurance, and on Insurance against Employment Accidents and Occupational Diseases.
The ISSA Special Commission on Prevention heads 11 International Prevention Sections that provide a pool of specialized prevention knowledge from a wide variety of fields. Building on a unique history of activities, the Special Commission on Prevention is ISSA’s flagship in prevention today.
ISSA Special Commission on Prevention >>
Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work
The Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work was adopted by the Safety and Health Summit on 29 June 2008 on the occasion of the XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work. The Congress was organized jointly by the SafeWork Programme of the International Labour Office, the International Social Security Association, and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.
The Declaration calls for a preventative safety and health culture, which gives the right to a safe and healthy environment and which is respected at all national levels. The signatories of the Seoul Declaration commit to actively participate in the securing of a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and duties, where the principle of prevention is accorded the highest priority.
Further information: www.seouldeclaration.org >>
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
As in previous years, the ISSA is supporting the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April.
Since 2003, the International Labour Organization (ILO) observes the World Day, stressing the prevention of accidents and illnesses at work and capitalizing on its traditional strengths of tripartism and social dialogue. The World Day for Safety and Health at Work is a significant tool to raise awareness about how to make work safe and healthy and to raise the political profile of occupational safety and health.
The ILO supports organizations and institutions by making its materials available for downloading from the Internet and by encouraging their use.
Download the ILO World Day poster and promotional resources >>
Type: Feature
Topics: Occupational risks
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