Below is Live Online Preview
Direct Download Link
An unacceptable situation The human, social and economic costs of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases and major industrial disasters have long been cause for concern at all levels from the individual workplace to the national and international. Measures and strategies designed to prevent, control, reduce or eliminate occupational hazards and risks have been developed and applied continuously over the years to keep pace with technological and economic changes. Yet, despite continuous if slow improvements, occupational accidents and diseases are still too frequent and their cost in terms of human suffering and economic burden continues to be significant. A recent ILO report estimated that 2 million occupational fatalities occur across the world every year (ILO, 2003b), the highest proportions of these deaths being caused by work-related cancers, circulatory and cerebrovascular diseases, and some communicable diseases. The overall annual rate of occupational accidents, fatal and non-fatal, is estimated at 270 million (Hämäläinen, Takala and Saarela, 2006). Some 160 million workers suffer from work-related diseases and about two-thirds of those are away from work for four working days or longer as a result. After work-related cancers, circulatory diseases and certain communicable diseases, accidental occupational injuries are the fourth main cause of workrelated fatalities. Recent data from the ILO and from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that overall occupational accident and disease rates are slowly declining in most industrialized countries (ILO, 2003a) but are level or increasing in developing and industrializing countries: • According to the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW), every year in the 15 Member States of the European Union (EU) before OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS AND RISKS: THE PROBLEMS AND THE ILO RESPONSE 1 Xpress text - Ch 1-8 (pp.1-56) :Intro-CH1 (p.1-40) 27/06/2008 15:10 Page 3 the enlargements of 2004 and 2007 about 5,000 workers were killed in accidents at work and about 5 million workers were victims of accidents at work leading to more than three days’ absence from work (EU, 2004).
• In India and China, the rates of occupational fatalities and accidents are similar at, respectively, 10.4 and 10.5 per 100,000 for fatalities, 8,700 and 8,028 for accidents.
• In sub-Saharan Africa, the fatality rate per 100,000 workers is 21 and the accident rate 16,000. This means that each year 54,000 workers die and 42 million work-related accidents take place that cause at least three days’ absence from work.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, about 30,000 fatalities occur each year and 22.6 million occupational accidents cause at least three days’ absence from work. The economic costs of these injuries and deaths are colossal, at the enterprise, national and global levels. Taking into account compensation, lost working time, interruption of production, training and retraining, medical expenses, and so on, estimates of these losses are routinely put at roughly
4 per cent of global GNP every year, and possibly much more. Overall spending on compensation for a group of OECD countries was estimated at US$122 billion for 1997 alone, with 500 million working days lost as a result of accidents or health problems. If property losses from accidents, and more specifically major industrial accidents, are included, recent studies suggest that insured losses are in the vicinity of US$5 billion annually and are on the increase (Mitchell, 1996). Moreover, these figures are based mainly on acute and intensive events and do not include uninsured losses, delayed losses associated with acute events such as oil and other toxic chemical spills, or the environmental impact and losses caused by chronic industrial pollution. The total annual cost to the EU of work-related injuries and ill health in 2001 was estimated at between €185 billion and €270 billion, or between 2.6 per cent and 3.8 per cent, of the EU’s GNP. In comparison, the cost of occupational accidents in Viet Nam for 2006 was estimated at US$3 billion (Government of Viet Nam, 2006). Box 2 illustrates the costs of occupational safety and health in an industrialized country. Occupational and industrial accidents are all caused by preventable factors which could be eliminated by implementing already known and available measures and methods. This is demonstrated by continuously reduced accident rates in industrialized countries. The application of preventive strategies therefore offers significant human and economic benefits. 4 Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety Xpress text
burden and cost of occupational accidents and diseases in the United Kingdom The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a methodology to calculate the costs of workplace accidents and diseases to individuals, employers and society. Each year:
• over 1 million injuries and 2.3 million cases of ill health occur;
• around 40 million working days are lost;
• over 25,000 individuals lose their jobs because of injury or ill health. The estimated costs of this toll are:
• to individuals, US$20–28 billion;
• to employers, US$8–16 billion;
• to society, US$40–60 billion.
• of a fatality: US$3 million
• of a major injury: US$80,000
• of an average case of ill health: US$17,000 Source: Annual data based on 2005 statistics published by the HSE: http://www.hse.gov.uk/costs/; HSE, “Costs to Britain of workplace accidents and work-related ill health” (interim update), data based on 2000–2001 statistics: http://www.hse.gov.uk/economics/costing.htm.
5 Occupational hazards and risks Variations in performance There are significant variations in occupational safety and health performance between countries, economic sectors and sizes of enterprise. Countries The incidence of workplace fatalities varies enormously between countries. There appears to
be a significant difference between developed and developin
g countries:
• a factory worker in Pakistan is eight times more likely to be killed at work than a factory worker in France;
• fatalities among transport workersin Kenya are ten timesthose in Denmark;
• construction workers in Guatemala are six times more likely to die at work than their counterparts in Switzerland (World Bank, 1995). Xpress text -
Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety Economic sectors OSH performance varies significantly between economic sectors within countries. Statistical data show that, worldwide, the highest rates of occupational deaths occur in agriculture, forestry, mining and construction. The ILO has estimated, for example, that tropical logging accidents cause more than 300 deaths per 100,000 workers. In other words, three out of every 7 Occupational hazards and risks ensure that part-time workersreceive the same protection asthat accorded to comparable fulltime workers in respect of: … (b) occupational safety and health” (Article 4).
• In 2000, economically active migrants were estimated to number some 81 million. For many of them, working conditions are abusive and exploitative: forced labour, low wages, poor working environment, a virtual absence of social protection, the denial of freedom of association and union rights, discrimination, xenophobia and social exclusion all rob workers of the potential benefits of working in another country (ILO, 2004). The safety and health risks associated with such conditions are compounded by the kinds of work that most migrants do, namely hazardous and risky jobs, particularly in agriculture and construction. In Europe, occupational accident rates are about twice as high for migrant workers as for native workers, and there is no reason to believe that the situation is any different in other parts of the world. Language barriers, exposure to new technology, family disruption, poor access to health care, stress and violence are some of the specific problems faced by migrant workers that make them particularly vulnerable to safety and health risks at the workplace.
• Workers in the informal economy are much more likely than formal workers to be exposed to poor working environments, low safety and health standards, and environmental hazards, and to suffer poor health or injury as a result. Most informal workers have little or no knowledge of the risks they face and how to avoid them. The very nature of the informal economy makes it almost impossible for governments to collect the vital statistics needed to take appropriate remedial action, and, since much informal work takes place in homes, inspectorates cannot investigate working conditions or get information and advice to the people who need it. The extension of fundamental rights and social protection to workers in the informal economy has been a major concern for the ILO in recent years. Following the preparation of a report on the subject (ILO, 2002a), a general discussion was held at the 90th Session of the ILC in 2002, which resulted in the adoption of a resolution (ILO, 2002b) and a basis for a future plan of action. The ILO has already started to develop tools and methodologies to begin the process of improving the working conditions and environment of informal workers through training, raising awareness and other means.
• Many children are still involved in hazardous work, although the numbers are falling: the worldwide total was estimated at 126 million in 2004, a Xpress text - Ch 1-8 (pp.1-56) :Intro-CH1 (p.1-40) 27/06/2008 15:10 Page 7 8 Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety considerable drop from an estimated 171 million in 2000. The decrease was particularly strong among children aged 5 to 14. This improvement can be attributed to the wide ratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), 1999, and the implementation of its provisions and those of its accompanying Recommendation (No. 190), 1999. More boys than girls continue to work in dangerous jobs. About 69 per cent of boys work in agriculture, 22 per cent in services and 9 per cent in industry. • The ageing of the world workforce raises many concerns, including some relating to occupational safety and health. The ILO has always been committed to the protection of ageing workers, and has been active specifically in elaborating international labourstandardsin invalidity, old age and survivors’ insurance. The most comprehensive instrument on this subjectisthe Older WorkersRecommendation, 1980 (No. 162), which aims to protect the right of older workers to equality of treatment and stresses the measures that should be implemented to protect their needs, including the identification and elimination of occupational hazards and working conditions that hasten the ageing process and reduce their working capacity. The ILO contribution to the 2002 Second World Assembly on Ageing (ILO, 2002c) stressed this fact and called for measures to promote the adaptation of working conditions for older workers.
1 • The accident rate of contract workers is on average twice that of permanent workers. Many employers seem to believe that by subcontracting certain tasks, they subcontract their safety responsibilities. This is not the case.
• Drivers are particularly at risk. International estimates suggest that between 15 and 20 per cent of fatalities caused by road accidents are suffered by people in the course of their work, but these deaths are treated as road traffic accidents rather than work-related fatalities. Despite this worrying situation, international awareness of the magnitude of the problem remains surprisingly modest. The inadequate dissemination of knowledge and information hampers action, especially in developing countries. It also limits the capacity to design and implement effective policies and programmes. The fatality, accident and disease figures are alarming but investment decisions continue to be made in disregard of safety, health and environmental considerations. In the scramble for capital, the pressures of globalization and increasingly stiff competition tend to deflect attention from the long-term economic benefits of a safe and healthy working environment. While the international press reports major industrial accidents, the many
Posts
