World Day for Safety and Health at Work - OSH management system: A tool for continual improvement
April 28 is the annual World Day for Safety and Health at work. Since 2003, the ILO has observed World Day, stressing the prevention of accidents and ill-health at work through social dialogue and tripartism.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work is supporting the ILO by holding the good practice awards ceremony for its Safe Maintenance Campaign in Hungary on April 28. This day is also when workers’ organisations remember those who have died at work.
“OSH management system: A tool for continual improvement” is the ILO theme for this year, making it clear that protecting workers is not a “one-off”. It requires an ongoing systematic approach, which is present in the European occupational safety and health system. EU-OSHA promotes a five step approach to prevention. The steps are:
• Identify the hazards and those at risk
• Evaluate and prioritise the risks
• Decide on preventive actions
• Take action
• Monitor and review the situation
What is vital about this process is that when there are changes in the workplace – new locations, new workers, new machinery, new substances, new tasks – then the assessment of the hazards and risks need to be reviewed. This means that not only are new risks identified and addressed, but prevention in the workplace can be continually improved.
For more on the ILO world day, visit their site at to access news and materials on the theme of continual improvement. It is updated regularly with promotional material in English, French and Spanish that can be downloaded and used.
For more on risk assessment, visit the EU-OSHA risk assessment area.
More information
On 28th April, the Spanish trade unions Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Union General de Trabajadores (UGT) will highlight how unions make work safer and will make the case for full employment without giving up on workplaces' health and safety regulations and standards. Both trade union centers will organise hundreds of events, including seminars, rallies, debates, and press conferences accross Spain aimed to underline the links between the financial crisis, unemployment, precarious work and workplace accidents. In Spain, two workers die every day as a consequence of their workplace activities.
The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) motto for the 28th April 2011 is "Safe and healthy work for all. Strengthening OHS at the workplace”. LO, in cooperation with the Confederation of Employees and Civil Servants in Denmark (FTF) will focus on the need to ensure OHS laws are implemented. Trade unions will commemorate workers' deaths and reflect on the increase of stress, violence, threats and other psycho-social risks in the workplace as well as the high rate of industrial accidents among young workers and newly employed, among other themes. More information: www.lo.dk and www.ftf.dk/28april
French trade unions mobilise together for 28th April! The Confédération française démocratique du travail (CFDT), the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), the Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU), the Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes (UNSA) and the Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (SUD) issued a joint press release to stress the need to improve working conditions and to recognise their severity of working conditions (see document attached in French).
On 28th April, the UK Trade Union Congress (TUC) will be highlighting the crucial role played by trade unions, strong regulation and effective enforcement in securing safer workplaces.
For more information on TUC activities for this 28th April, visit http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-11563-f0.cfm.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) on this 28th April will ask for stronger safety laws and protections in the workplace through an event in the Labour History Museum in Dublin. The focus will be on work-related suicide. Trade unions will highlight how employers are responsible for safe systems and risk assessments in the workplace, including for work-related stress.
Visit also www.hazards.org/wmd
US President Barack Obama proclamation on workers' memorial day
