Today we remember all those workers who have lost their lives or suffered injury or illness on the job or due to a work-related tragedy across the globe.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), across the world:
- Each year, more than two million people die as a result of work-related accidents and diseases
- Workers suffer approximately 270 million accidents each year, and fall victim to some 160 million incidents of related illnesses
- Hazardous substances kill 440,000 workers annually — asbestos claims 100,000 lives
- One worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide — 6,000 workers die every day. More people die while at work than those fighting wars.
- As much as this is a day to remember the dead, it is also a call to protect the living and make work a place to thrive.
This year, the ILO has made “Workplace Stress: a collective challenge” as the theme of this year’s day. In recent years, there has been growing attention to the impact of psychosocial risks and work-related stress among researchers, practitioners and policymakers, said the ILO. Work-related stress is now generally acknowledged as global issue affecting all countries, all professions and all workers both in developed and developing countries. In this complex context, the workplace is at the same time an important source of psychosocial risks and the ideal venue to address them in order to protect the health and well-being of workers.
Make this April 28th count.