All posts by Cath Ager

USA: Día en Memoria de Trabajadorxs Fallecidxs (Spanish Resources) – National COSH

As we observe Workers’ Memorial Day, we’d like to share these Spanish language resources from National COSH, to help in remembering those who have become ill, injured or lost their lives at work.

This year, we are spotlighting employers who have failed to take proper steps to protect against the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, as well as other preventable hazards across a range of industries and occupations.

The Executive Summary of our Dirty Dozen 2020 —  Special Coronavirus Edition report is available here:

https://tinyurl.com/resumen-ejecutivo

The Dirty Dozen press release is here:

https://coshnetwork.org/COSH-Nacional-anuncia-los-empleadorxs-de-la-Docena-Sucia-del-2020

Our social media toolkit, with sharable badges and infographics in both English and Spanish, is available here:

https://coshnetwork.org/2020_WMW_Social_Media_Toolkit

This year, we’ve added a Dirty Dozen video.  You can find it here.

https://tinyurl.com/videoCOSH

Thanks so much for all your help, and for all you are doing to protect workers during this difficult time.

Jessica and Marianela

for the National COSH Team

Jessica E. Martinez, MPH

Co-Executive Director

National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH)

www.coshnetwork.org

jessica@nationalcosh.org

Europe: Commission must rethink ‘astonishing’ omission of workers’ health and safety from work programme | ETUC

The ETUC is using Workers Memorial Day to appeal again to the European Commission to prioritize workplace health and safety in its plans for the next five years in light of the coronavirus crisis.

Trade unions first raised the alarm last September when occupational health and safety was omitted from Ursula von der Leyen’s political guidelines, pointing out that every year there are 4,000 fatal accidents at work and 120,000 people die of work-related cancer.

Despite that, the Commission continued to overlook this matter of life or death when it published its work programme for 2019 to 2024 in January.

The ETUC is now writing again to the Commission President to urge her to reassess her priorities in light of the coronavirus crisis, which has been responsible for hundreds of deaths at work.

In a separate letter sent to Nicholas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, today the ETUC and its affiliates have called on him to ensure Covid-19 is recognised as an occupational disease.

Our appeals come on Workers Memorial Day, the international day of remembrance for those who have lost their lives at work which is routinely observed by the European Commission.

The ETUC is calling on the European Commission to:

  • Include a plan for zero workplace deaths and the elimination of work-related cancer to its work programme for 2020.
  • Add Covid-19 to the EU directive on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents to ensure the most effective and strict prevention measures
  • Enlarge the scope of the recommendation concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases to cover all professions exposed to Covid-19 at a higher level than for the general population
  • Enforce existing legislation in member states after a dramatic drop in workplace inspections in many countries

ETUC Deputy General Secretary Per Hilmersson said:

“The omission of health and safety from the European Commission’s agenda was astonishing before the crisis considering there are still 4,000 fatal accidents at work and 120,000 people dying of work-related cancer every year.

“In light of recent events, it would be grossly negligent to keep turning a blind eye to this matter of life and death.

“Yet workplace health and safety is still not given the importance it deserves in the Commission’s roadmap towards lifting Covid-19 containment measures. The exit strategy needs to have a hazard-based approach, with proper prevention measures put in place before we can return to work.

““It is high time for Ursula von der Leyen and her team to prioritize occupational health and safety, of which there was no mention in her political guidelines when elected Commission President and of which is still no mention in the recently leaked Commission work programme.”

Global: International Workers Memorial Day 2020 and COVID-19 – mourn for the dead and fight for the living

Education International (EI)

International Workers’ Memorial Day on occupational health and safety, observed the 28th of April every year. The international day was born in 1996 to mourn those who had died on the job and to fight for the living. It has spread to all continents of the world.

On this day, EI mourns all workers, but especially education workers, who have died at work and in the line of duty. We also will fight for their health and lives in the present and for the future.

COVID-19 is a pandemic that is lethal on a large scale. For those in direct contact with others, including many working in education, it is an occupational health and safety challenge. Some deaths, with proper precautions and protections, could have been avoided.

Although in our sectors, many are tele-working or on leave, this will change with the opening of schools. Already, opening dates have been announced in several countries. With re-opening, in addition to the ongoing public health danger to all, exposure at the workplace will become a major, perhaps the major risk.
COVID-19 and other infectious diseases contracted at work, should be recognised. They should be given the same treatment, including compensation, as other occupational diseases.

Every situation is different. In countries where great progress has been made and where tests and protective devices are widely available, reopening may be relatively safe. However, even in those situations, there may be a risk of unleashing a second wave.

Regardless of circumstances, even though more information is becoming available, what is not known about this virus remains more important than what we know. It is another reason that re-opening must be careful and methodical.

Social distancing, a crucial element of the combat against COVID-19, under the best of circumstances, will be difficult in schools and, in some cases, may be impossible. Hallways and staircases in many schools before the pandemic were already too narrow to easily accommodate normal traffic.

For small children, social distancing is bizarre behaviour and hard to understand. Even for older students, it may be difficult to respect due to limits of space, but also because of the normal rush of school life; getting from one class to another, to lunch and leaving at the end of the day. That means that social distancing will require considerable logistical and cultural changes.

To make school reopening as safe as possible, a number of factors need to be taken into consideration. They include whether there has been a significant decline in the general risk, the existence of widespread testing and monitoring, the availability of protective devices, regular disinfection, and modifications of physical arrangements and measures such as staggered classes and reduced class sizes. Such protections will be especially challenging in countries with limited possibilities to provide those protections and weak public health systems.

Workers in education, particularly teachers, are often older than the larger population because it has been hard, in recent years, to recruit new talent. That means that teachers may be especially vulnerable to infection. Education personnel, particularly from high-risk groups, should not be required to go back to school. They should be permitted to continue to work from home or make other arrangements.

Work-related stress has become a major issue for teachers in many countries as has been documented by the recent OECD TALIS report. Existing stress factors in education will be aggravated by fear of contamination during re-opening and, perhaps, for months to come.

In some countries where school re-opening has been scheduled, there have been consultations and/or negotiations with education trade unions on the details of occupational health and safety protections. Often, they are the same countries, with strong social dialogue traditions, where there were already discussions of closures.

However, the EI survey of member organisations on COVID-19 showed that the governments that acted correctly at that time were exceptional. Reopening decisions are neither urgent nor abrupt. They are planned. Trade unions should be fully involved in reopening planning and decisions.

David Edwards, Education International General Secretary stated: “For growing numbers of workers in education and other sectors, the worksite will become the greatest source of risk for COVID-19. There is no excuse for not involving the representatives of workers, their trade unions, in reopening decisions and ongoing occupational health and safety vigilance. It is the health and lives of those workers that are most at stake.”

“The reopening of schools can be a massive risk for teachers and other education workers. Every effort should be made to ensure that risks are reduced to the minimum through best practices based on science, not politics, and anchored in cooperation and social dialogue.”

“COVID-19 may be a natural disaster, but avoidable illness and death is human failure. International Workers’ Memorial Day is, in this dark year, not only a way to recognise those who have already sacrificed, but to chart a path that restores trust and hope and gives us a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Statement of the Council of Global Unions on the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease, released on the occasion of International Workers Memorial Day 2020, is also available here

https://www.ei-ie.org/en/detail/16753/international-workers-memorial-day-2020-and-covid-19-mourn-for-the-dead-and-fight-for-the-living

South Africa: We mourn the loss of life for workers all around the world – COSATU

We mourn the loss of life for workers all around the world who have lost their lives at work. #COVIDー19 is a workplace related disease and we want occupational health and safety to become a fundamental right” Sharan Burrow,ITUC General Secretary #IWMD20 ?bit.ly/2SdSpzH

Global: Covid 19 crisis shows the vital role of caregivers in our society – UNI global union

“Home care workers are the first line of defense against #covid19 for millions of elderly & sick patients. This crisis is showing the world the vital role caregivers play in our societies,” said Christy Hoffman General Secretary of UNI Global Union. ⁩
#ProtectHomecareWorkersRead more • UNI Global Union

Australia: NSW nurses union remember their colleagues – [Video]


NSW nurses union remember their colleagues who have died at work over the past year.  NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association

UK: Construction workers’ minutes silence at the ‘Building Worker’ statue [Video]

Construction workers minutes silence at the ‘Building Worker’ statue in London to mark International Workers Memorial Day.

Gibraltar: Health sector workers pay tribute to healthcare workers killed by Covid 19 [Video]

#IWMD20 Health Sector workers (GHA) in #Gibraltar paying tribute to the tens of thousands of healthcare workers worldwide who have lost their lives due to the Coronavirus pandemic. #NEVERFORGOTTEN Unite the Union Gibraltar

 

USA: Video memorial tribute to killed workers

USMWF United Support and Memorial for Workplace Fatalities has published a moving video memorial of fallen workers.

Hungary: Tribute to the victims of work related accidents and illnesses

  • Tisztelgés a munkabalesetek, foglalkozási megbetegedések áldozatai előtt.
  • Tribute to the victims of work related accidents and illnesses