The International Labour Organization (ILO) Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment, SafeWork aims to create worldwide awareness of the dimensions and consequences of work-related accidents, injuries and diseases; to place the health and safety of all workers on the international agenda; and to stimulate and support practical action at all levels.
With this in mind, the programme intends to launch new research, statistical work and media-related activities, and to support national action through a global programme of technical assistance.
Your input
As part of the programme, the ILO published in 2002 a Recommendation concerning the list of occupational diseases and the recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases (No. 194). As an annex to this Recommendation, the ILO published a list of occupational diseases in 2002.
This list is in the process of being updated.
ILO has created a standard questionnaire for stakeholders which your organisation can fill in and send back by 30 June 2005. However, you can also attach further comments to the questionnaire such as your position papers or policy recommendations on the area of your expertise.
The ILO encourages stakeholders to consult the most representative organisations of employers and workers in their Country to help them filling in the questionnaire, as they believe that this will provide stakeholders with better arguments to answer the questions properly.
Issues at stake
The questionnaire, based on the structure of the list of 2002, enquiries if this list should be changed and why.
It also suggests the inclusion of occupational diseases, that although have existed even before 2002, were not included in the original list.
Regarding diseases caused by chemical and physical agents, ILO suggests the additions of diseases caused by pesticides and electromagnetic fields (EMF).
Additional diseases caused by biological agents would be tetanus, brucellosis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C and HIV.
Regarding occupational respiratory diseases and skin diseases, the ILO does not suggest any possible additions to the list, leaving it entirely up to the stakeholders who send back their questionnaires.
A long list of musculo-skeletal disorders is put forward by the ILO to be considered as possible additions to the list.
Background information
Every year, more than 2 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases. More than 160 million workers fall ill each year due to workplace hazards. The poorest, least protected - often women, children and migrants - are also among the most affected. Micro- and small enterprises account for over 90 per cent of enterprises where conditions are often very poor and the workers in them are often excluded from all labour protection.
Human suffering has no measurable cost, unlike economic losses. Estimates from, for example, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway put the direct cost of accidents in billions of dollars. In many developing countries, death rates among workers are five to six times those in industrialized countries. Yet the phenomenon is still largely undocumented and there is insufficient political will to address the problem.
Global competition, growing labour market fragmentation and rapid change in all aspects of work creates a mounting challenge for labour protection, especially in developing countries. Workers in rural areas and the urban informal sector are often ignored or difficult to reach.
For further information, or to know how this list will be used in practice, please contact SafeWork at safework@ilo.org.
