IG BAU-Bundesvorstandsmitglied Carsten Burckhardt über die Bedeutung des Workers’ Memorial Day.
Category Archives: News
Global: On 28 April IndustriALL launches year long safety campaign
This #IWMD19 global unions launch a year-long safety campaign in the pulp, paper, graphical and packaging sectors, demanding the: Right to Know, Right to Act, Right to Participate @uniglobalunion https://t.co/f1vTubDSIJ pic.twitter.com/CBnFhnzOnq
— IndustriALL (@IndustriALL_GU) April 27, 2019
Ghana: April 28 government announcement that a work safety bill is to be passed this year
Occupational Safety and Health Bill to be passed this year
Parliament will pass the Occupational Safety and Health (OHS) Bill into law by the end of the year as part of efforts to promote workplace health and safety.
“It is vital we acknowledge that the future of work is now with us and it behoves on us to adopt, adapt and modify the nature of work and our workplaces to stay current and compliant with the OSH standards.”
Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said this on Friday on the “World Day for Safety and Health at Work” in Accra.
The event, on the theme: “Safety and Health and the Future of Work,” was organised by the Ministry in collaboration with the Volta River Authority (VRA).
Mr Baffour-Awuah called on all stakeholders in the working environment to conform to the requisite work and health safeties, as it was crucial to the attainment of the National Medium-Term Development Objectives.
He said the world of work was changing at a faster rate, with the influx of modern technology, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things among others, which came with hazards and deficiencies.
“We cannot act oblivious about the accidents and injuries these technologies may pose to the labour force,” he said.
Mr Baffour-Awuah said social partners had demonstrated enough commitment to the promotion of OSH standards to guarantee employees’ welfare and wellbeing, adding that stakeholders must not relent on that effort.
He said the significance of safety and health at the workplace was undeniably key to the full attainment of decent work agenda in Ghana.
Mr Baffour-Awuah said although there was overwhelming evidence that certain categories of the Ghanaian workplace were exposed to occupational risks and hazards, significant strides had also been made in the administration of the OSH standards through sensitisation, advocacy, compliance and enforcement.
“It is my fervent expectation that Ghana achieves the SDGs on OSH earlier than the stipulated timeframe; a task I employ all of us to embrace, other than that, our celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work will be an exercise in futility,” he said.
He said the move would require investment, research, training, skills development and capacity building because employees wanted to work in an environment where their safety could be assured.
The Minister said employers, on the other hand, were seeking men and women with demonstrated safety consciousness to hire and engage, knowing that reliable assurance of safety was a guarantee of business development.
He noted that the Government was interested in a healthy workforce that could implement its policies and programmes towards growth and sustainable development of the country.
Mr Andrew A. Tagoe, the Deputy General Secretary, General Agriculture Workers Union of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), called on the Government to develop and implement a national OSH legislation and regulation.
He said the Labour Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations must be empowered to intensify its inspection at all workplaces to ensure safety.
Source: GNA
Wales: Marking International Workers Memorial Day 2019
Safe work is a right, not a privilege. Each year on 28 April trade unionists mark Workers Memorial Day.
It is alarming to note that every year worldwide, more people are killed at work than in wars. Each year, 28 April is designated as Workers’ Memorial Day, providing the opportunity to reflect on the many people who are killed, seriously injured or made ill while doing their jobs.
Wales TUC President Shavanah Taj honours those who have suffered by calling on people to join a union to fight for a stronger voice at work and improve workplace health and safety.
Most workers don’t die of mystery ailments, or in tragic accidents. They die because an employer decided their safety wasn’t that important. Workers’ Memorial Day commemorates those workers and so if you’re not in a union, join a union. If you’re a member of a union, become active and become a union heath and safety rep. Unionised workplaces are safer workplaces and today on International Workers’ Memorial Day we remember the dead and fight for the living.
Shavanah Taj, Wales TUC President
Watch Shavanah’s full message for Workers’ Memorial Day 2019:
Take part in Workers’ Memorial Day 2019
This year Workers’ Memorial Day falls on a Sunday so you may like to organise an event in your workplace on the following Monday, 29 April. Your event could be a minute’s silence, a commemorative rally, a workplace meeting or just a small get-together. You could also arrange a larger commemorative event such as planting a memorial tree in a public place, putting up a plaque, dedicating a sculpture, a piece of art, or a bench, to remember workers who have been killed at the workplace or in the community.
Tell us how you’re marking Workers’ Memorial Day on Twitter (using #IWMD19) or Facebook.
Dangerous substances
The theme for Workers’ Memorial Day 2019 is: “dangerous substances – get them out of the workplace”.
Take a look at the TUC’s guides on Asbestos, Diesel exhaust and Occupational cancer
Cymru: Diwrnod Coffa Gweithwyr Rhyngwladol 2019
Wales TUC Workers’ Memorial Day message on YouTube
Global: ITF adds its voice to the international campaign against dangerous substances
The International Transport Workers’ Federation has encouraged everyone to join the international call to take control and remove dangerous substances from work.
España: Un año más desde USO conmemoramos el Día Internacional de la Seguridad y la Salud en el Trabajo
Un año más desde USO conmemoramos el Día Internacional de la Seguridad y la Salud en el Trabajo, denunciando el aumento de la siniestralidad laboral y el ocultamiento de las enfermedades profesionales en nuestro país, este año el 28 de abril queda sepultado por la convocatoria de elecciones generales. En 2018, tenemos que lamentar y denunciar, que fueron 652 los trabajadores y trabajadoras que perdieron la vida en su jornada laboral o en el trayecto de ida o vuelta del trabajo.
Desde USO llevamos años denunciando que, debido a los recortes en prevención y a la falta de cultura preventiva, las evaluaciones de riesgos son genéricas o lo que denominamos de “corta y pega” no recogiendo los riesgos específicos del puesto de trabajo, ni las características concretas del trabajador o trabajadora que va a desempeñar dicha actividad. Además, no se actualizan ante los cambios que se producen en las condiciones laborales, ni por los daños que se producen en la salud.
Por todo esto, desde USO hemos centrado nuestra campaña del 28 de abril en reivindicar que la evaluación de riesgos es el principio de la prevención y si en esta pieza clave ya se falla, el trabajo en prevención está viciado desde la base y nunca será efectivo, por ello nuestro lema es “Sin Evaluación no hay Prevención”.
Te adjunto el cartel y el manifiesto, como en otras ocasiones se realizarán actos reivindicativos y asambleas el día 26 de abril en toda España.
Recibe un cordial saludo
Global: Sharan Burrow (ITUC) on workers’ safety- if you expose us, we’ll expose you [VIDEO]
Sharan Burrow’s (International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary) International Workers’ Memorial Day message on occupational health and safety (YouTube).
UK: Work cancer risk warning after government safety cuts
New evidence confirming a cancer risk to tyre and rubber workers may go ignored because of the UK government’s safety deregulation and cuts, the union Unite has warned. The union was commented after research published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine revealed that workers in the tyre and rubber industry remain at significant risk of developing cancers caused by exposure to N-nitrosamines and rubber dust.
Unite noted the study findings were “particularly timely as it comes just before International Workers’ Memorial Day as the theme for this year’s event is dangerous substances – get them out of the workplace,” with the 28 April global event having a particular focus on occupational cancer prevention. The union, which represents thousands of workers in the industry, says it is unable to properly address the new health concerns as there is no longer an effective body where it can raise such issues. It charges that this “is a result of the Conservative government’s attacks on safety laws.”
The union says the UK government safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), previously had a Tyre and Rubber Industries Safety Action Group (TRISAG), with active involvement of both employers and unions, where safety concerns could be raised and dealt with. “However TRISAG has been scrapped as a result of government pressure and no similar body has replaced its work,” Unite says.
The new study confirms earlier findings that “N-nitrosamines exposures are associated with mortality from cancers of the bladder, lung, stomach, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, oesophagus, prostate, pancreas and liver.”
Unite national officer for the rubber industry Tony Devlin said: “This authoritative study is a stark reminder of the long-term health implications of being exposed to rubber. These dangers are being neglected as a direct result of the government’s cuts which are denying workers an effective voice in the corridors of power.” He added: “The lack of an effective forum to deal with exposure to cancer causing substances is another example of how the government has washed it hands of workplace health and safety. Cancer deaths will not be reduced unless effective measures are taken to cut exposure levels to N-nitrosamines and rubber dust.”
Unite news release. Mira Hidajat and others. Lifetime exposure to rubber dusts, fumes and N-nitrosamines and cancer mortality in a cohort of British rubber workers with 49 years follow-up, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 76, number 4, pages 250-258, April 2019. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2018-105181
Cancers and their work causes: An ITUC/Hazards at-a-glance guide to cancer hazards. Also in French and Spanish.
Australia: ACTU – 28 April activities state-by-state
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has published the following list of International Workers’ Memorial Day events:
New South Wales
Unions NSW International Workers’ Memorial Day event
28 April 2019
Reflection Park Little Pier Street (off Harbour St), Darling Harbour, Sydney
12pm
Victoria
VTHC International Workers’ Memorial Day event
29 April 2019
Victorian Trades Hall (Lygon St Entrance), Melbourne
10.30am – 11.15am
Including a minute’s silence at 11am and an opportunity to lay wreaths.
Northern Territory
Unions NT International Workers’ Memorial Day event
29 April 2019
Rain Tree Park at Smith St Mall, Darwin
Time TBC.
Unions NT Secretary Joel Bowden will MC the event – there will be a eulogy, guest speaker and will finish with the workers’ prayer.
Western Australia
Unions WA International Workers’ Memorial Day event
29 April 2019
Solidarity Park, West Perth
10am – more details
Queensland
QCU International Workers’ Memorial Day event
29 April 2019
Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, 70 Appleby Rd, Stafford
10.30am
Tasmania
Also see 27 and 28 April events listing for Tasmania.
https://www.actu.org.au/ohs/events