28 April - World Day for Safety and Health at work

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(www.MaritimeCyprus.com) 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.

The ILO celebrates the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on the 28 April to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. It is an awareness-raising campaign 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.

With the celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO promotes the creation of a global preventative safety and health culture involving ILO constituents and all key stakeholders in this field. 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.

The 28 April is also the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers organized worldwide by the trade union movement since 1996. Its purpose is to honour the memory of victims of occupational accidents and diseases by organizing worldwide mobilizations and awareness campaigns on this date.

In 2003, the ILO became involved in the April 28 campaign upon request from the trade union movement. While we honour injured and fallen workers, we appreciate and celebrate that these injuries and fatalities can be prevented and reduced, recognizing it as both a day for commemoration and celebration. Since 2003, the ILO observes the World Day on Safety and Health at Work on April 28 capitalizing on its traditional strengths of tripartism and social dialogue.

28 April is seen as a day to raise international awareness on occupational safety and health among trade unions, employers’ organizations and government representatives alike. The ILO acknowledges the shared responsibility of key stakeholders and encourages them to promote a preventive safety and health culture to fulfill their obligations and responsibilities for preventing deaths, injuries and diseases in the workplace, allowing workers to return safely to their homes at the end of the working day.

Year 2021

Since emerging as a global crisis in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts everywhere. The pandemic has touched nearly every aspect of the world of work, from the risk of transmission of the virus in workplaces, to occupational safety and health (OSH) risks that have emerged as a result of measures to mitigate the spread of the virus. Shifts to new forms of working arrangements, such as the widespread reliance on teleworking, have, for example, presented many opportunities for workers but also posed potential OSH risks, including psychosocial risks and violence in particular.

Year 2022

The World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2022 will be commemorated on 28 April 2022 and will explore the topic of participation and social dialogue in creating 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 from the development and revision of OSH policy and regulatory frameworks to address persistent and new OSH challenges, to actual application at 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.

For more information, you can download the below ILO paper on how to Anticipate, prepare and respond to crises:

 

Source: ILO

 

 

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