World Day for Safety and Health at Work is celebrated annually on 28th 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.
Background
- The International Labour Organization (ILO) started observing the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28, 2003. The ILO is devoted to advancing opportunities for people to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
Aim
- It aims to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, boost social protection, and strengthen dialogue in work-related issues.
World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2018
- This year’s celebrations will be held under the global theme - “Generation safe and healthy.”
- The ILO acknowledges the shared responsibility of key stakeholders and encourages them to promote a preventive safety and health culture to fulfil 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.
- The ILO Youth Employment Programme has developed the training package “Youth Rights @Work: Decent work for young people” in response to the employment challenges for young workers.
- Young workers suffer the highest rate of work-related injuries. One of the key factors cited for the high injury toll is the lack of awareness of workplace safety and worker rights on the part of young workers.
- This training package consists of a guide for facilitators and a toolkit that provide hands-on examples of rights and entitlements of young workers as well as recruitment practices and workplace situations.
- Youth4OSH or OSH project was also launched for Young Workers and Young Employers in Global Supply Chains.
- It seeks to reduce workplace injuries, fatalities, and occupational diseases through increased preventative safety actions by young workers and young employers engaged in global supply chains.
- Youth4OSH is being implemented in conjunction with the ILO’s SafeYouth@Work project.
