World Day of Safety and Health at Work

April 28th is also a day in which world unions commemorate and honour the memory of victims of accidents and diseases at work.

The World Day for Security and Health at Work is an integral part of the ILO-led Global Strategy on Safety and Health, which promotes the creation of global prevention and a health culture with the involvement of all actors.

On this date, in many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, health and security organisations, and employers organise numerous activities.

ILO has set April 28th as World Security and Health Day for promoting accident prevention and work - related diseases

What is safety and health at work?

Safety and health at work are precautions aimed at improving conditions during the work process, preserving life, integrity to health, physical and mental protection of workers involved in the production process.

Health targets at work target:

1- In promoting and maintaining at high levels of physical, mental and social welfare of employees in all professions.

2-To prevent diseases resulting from working conditions.

3-In defense are workers from risks stemming from harmful health factors related to work.

4-In providing suitable work for each employer, adapting to his physical and psychological capacity “Workplace fit with employee and employer with his workplace”

Why are safety and health important at work?

According to statistics each year in the European Union, more than 5,500 people lose their lives as a result of workplace accidents. It is very difficult to determine the impact of professional health diseases, and there is no data consensus on the matter. However, estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggest 159,000 people in the EU each year die as a result of professional diseases.

Various companies in EU countries lose about 143 million working days each year from job accidents. The estimates are different, but such accidents and poor health cost the EU economy at least 490 billion euros annually. Forecast of risks, implementing security security measures and continuing to follow with their rigorousity are important for reducing these figures ( EU-OSHA Healthy Works 2012-13.

Each year, more than two million women and men die as a result of accidents and workplace - related diseases. Workers suffer approximately a loss of 270m euros annually linked to accidents and another 160,000 related to incidents and diseases in the workplace as well.

Dangerous substances kill 440,000 workers a year. Asbestos takes 100,000 lives a year. A worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide. 6,000 workers die every day. More people die in the workplace compared with those killed in wars. It is impossible to reach absolute job security. It is extremely important to prevent”

“Preemption is better than cure”

Prevention is the foundation of European access to security and health problems at work. In practice, this means analyzing the work processes to identify the long - term and short - term risks and then to take action to avoid or tame them as much as possible. Prevention of injury and disease from workplace health is based on two basic concepts:

1- Environment at work and technology producers should be designed so that health risks can be identified or minimized to minimum.

2 employees need to know the risks in the workplace, to address, educate themselves, to act safely, and to use personal safety equipment at work. The experience of many countries in the world has shown that focusing on improving the work environment and avoiding workplace risks is more than simply telling employees to be careful.

A healthy, secure working environment protects your health and life!

(About taken by the Public Health Institute)