NYCOSH raises big issues on #iwmd23, in front of an ‘organise’ banner.
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Global: Organising for safer workplaces this International Workers’ Memorial Day | ITF Global #iwmd23
Unions remember workers lost to negligent employers and safety standards
Today, the 28th of April, marks International Workers’ Memorial Day, when trade unions around the world remember and mourn the loss of the colleagues, friends and family who never came home from work.
Most of these tragedies were preventable. Yet the negligence of employers and a lack of adequate occupational safety and health standards continue to kill and injure transport workers across the world.
In the past year, many transport workers have lost their lives in the workplace and millions more have suffered life-changing injuries and ill health, including:
- Shocking reports that revealed that as many as 100,000 fishers were killed last year, in an industry where forced labour and human trafficking continue to be linked to fatalities.
- Road transport remained the deadliest industry in many countries around the world, as truck drivers’ continue to be forced to take deadly risks to deliver goods at lower costs due to unsustainable rates of pay.
- Tugboat workers’ safety continued to be put at risk from a lack of adequate safety standards, regulation and enforcement that can allow boats to operate for 50 years without a single inspection.
That’s why we fight to ensure workers’ have a seat at the table in setting occupational standards for safety and health in every transport sector.
International Workers’ Memorial Day is a day to mourn all the workers who have needlessly lost their lives to negligent employers. And it reminds us to organise so it doesn’t happen again.
We’re taking action today to honour the memories of colleagues and friends. Read on to see how you can take part.
This year’s theme: organising for health and safety – a crucial part of union action
In June 2022, unions secured the landmark decision from the International Labour Organization (ILO) to include ‘a safe and healthy working environment’ in its framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.
But words need action. This year, the ITF has outlined safety and health as the first priority in our annual report, and committed to keep working to put this right into practice.
These examples show our 2023 plans to be on front line of pushing for better health and safety standards:
- We’ll continue to expose the impact of the poor working conditions on the mental health of young people working in public transport.
- We’ll expand our call to #RatifyC190 so that countries everywhere commit to ending violence and harassment at work.
- We’ll fight globally to support unions in winning Safe Rates for road transport workers.
- We’ll keep organising migrant fishers to stand up for their safety and rights in Ireland, Thailand and the UK.
- We’ll roll out ITF’s OSH Protocols for Safer Ports with more terminal operators and continue to campaign to improve waterfront safety standards and educate unions and dockers worldwide. Our unions are winning for their members in countries like New Zealand where deaths have scarred their communities.
- We’ll be pushing for better international safety laws, guidelines and recommendations in international policy bodies, like the ILO Technical Meeting on aviation that’s happening this week in Geneva.
- And we’ll continue to support our affiliates to fight for justice for the families, like the families of Troy Pearson and Charley Cragg, who have lost loved ones at the hands of negligent employers, including campaigning and lobbying for the introduction of industrial manslaughter laws.
Transport workers practise acts of health and safety with every shift, and often go far beyond. From the heroic tug crew Todd Dutton and Shaun Kirkpatrick who saved the life of a 14 year old girl from the torrents of the Fraser River, to the thousands of transport workers who support relief efforts of natural disasters, like the devastating earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria in February, and war zones from Palestine and Sudan to Ukraine and Yemen.
We look out for workmates in hazardous areas, spot each other when loading cargo, remind each other to ‘bend at the knees’, and are there for each other when the strain of the job is just too much for our body or mind.
Protecting workers’ lives, preventing injuries and demanding safe workplaces has always been at the heart of our movement – and always will.
We will keep fighting for safe and healthy workplaces – whether it’s securing freedom for abandoned seafarers, drawing up more safety agreements with airport operators, or campaigning to end gender-based violence in the workplace.
Organised workplaces are safer workplaces. That’s why we’ll continue to remember the dead, and fight hard for the living.
Attend an IWMD event near you
Today, workers around the world will be paying their respects to lost colleagues and friends. We invite you to attend an event, vigil or ceremony near you to honour their memories.
Use the 28 April global map to find an event near you.
Alternatively, attend a memorial event if your union is holding one.
Put your work boots out and share a photo on social media
Can’t attend an event in person? We’re also inviting you to put your work boots out in honour of workers who have died on the job.
Make sure to share a photo on social media with the hashtag #IWMD2023 to contribute to the record of remembrances on the day.
Celebrate the ILO’s decision to declare ‘a safe and healthy working environment’ as a fundamental right
On 28 April 2023, the ILO will celebrate the decision to include safe workplaces in its fundamental principles, bringing together experts and constituents to discuss the implications it has for the world of work, as well as how to practically implement this right in the world of work.
Join the ILO global dialogue on from 13:30 to 15:00 CEST: How can we promote the fundamental right to a safe and healthy working environment?
To inform 28 April discussions, ILO has also produced a detailed report: ‘Implementing a safe and healthy working environment: Where are we now?’
USA: On 28 April NIOSH says ‘learn from the past, prepare for the future’ – #iwmd23
Workers’ Memorial Day, April 281, was established to recognize workers who died or suffered from exposures to hazards at work. It also encourages us to think of ways in which we all can help to achieve the goal of safer and healthier workplaces.
In 2021, work-related injuries claimed the lives of 5,190 U.S. workers, an 8.9% increase from 2020. This number represents a rate of 3.6 fatal injuries per 100 full time equivalent workers2. Although deaths resulting from work-related injuries are captured by surveillance systems, most deaths resulting from work-related illness are not. In 2007, an estimated 53,445 people died from work-related illness3. In 2021, employers reported approximately 2.6 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses to private industry workers via the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses 4. An estimate of the annual burden of chronic occupational illness in the U.S. is between 460,534 and 709,792 additional cases per year 5.
Occupational injuries and illnesses have broad social and economic impacts on workers and their families, on employers, and on society as a whole. There are several ways to estimate those consequences, such as methods that focus on medical costs, productivity losses, health-related quality of life losses, or risk-money tradeoffs that consider pain and suffering. Based on methods that focus on medical costs and productivity losses, the societal cost of work-related fatalities, injuries, and illnesses was estimated at $250 billion in 20073. Methods that include consideration of pain and suffering would result in a higher estimated societal cost6.
There are multiple sources of statistics for work-related injuries and illnesses in the United States. The NIOSH webpage, Worker Health Charts, allows for the creation of custom charts from multiple data sources. Users can visualize rates, distribution, and trends in workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths, using data not easily available elsewhere.
NIOSH is working to better describe the burden of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses suffered by workers; learn more about “Burden, Need and Impact” the NIOSH framework for identifying research priorities.
While significant progress has occurred since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, much more remains to be made. Even as we continue efforts to eliminate the legacy hazards of the 20th Century, we are also called to address the emerging challenges of the 21st Century economy.
Reference
- Workers Memorial Day was established in 1970 by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
- Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
- Leigh JP. Economic burden of occupational injury and illness in the United States. Milbank Q 2011;89:728–72
- Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/osh.nr0.htm
- Groenewold, M, Brown, L, Smith, E, Sweeney, MH, Pana‐Cryan, R, Schnorr, T. Burden of occupational morbidity from selected causes in the United States overall and by NORA industry sector, 2012: A conservative estimate. Am J Ind Med. 2019; 62: 1117– 1134. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23048external icon
- Haddix AC, Teutsch SM, Corso PS, eds. Prevention effectiveness: a guide to decision analysis and economic evaluation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press;2003:74.
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/workmemorial/default.html
Argentina: On 28 April we will commemorate the dead and call for an end to workplace killing – #iwmd23
Marcelo Fiscina, Secretary of Occupational Health of CTA-A Capital said: “Today in Argentina we will do this activity to commemorate April 28, 2023. As Secretary of Occupational Health of Capital CTA-A. So they don’t keep killing us on the job.”
Ireland: ICTU General Secretary calls for early ratification of ILO Safety Convention 187
At the ceremony to mark #WorkersMemorialDay at the Garden of Remembrance the General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Owen Reidy looks forward to early ratification of ILO Convention 187 on Occupational Safety as the only outstanding fundamental convention yet to be ratified in Ireland. Twitter
Europe: On 28 April EPSU calls on EU to protect firefighters from asbestos poisoning – #iwmd23
Did you know that 7⃣8⃣% of occupational cancers are related to #asbestos?
This International Workers’ Memorial Day #IWMD23, we remember the #firefighters who lost their lives due to #asbestos.
Firefighters protect us every day. We call on @EU_Commission to protect them. Now! pic.twitter.com/2E9EiXDmdi
— EPSU (@EPSUnions) April 28, 2023
Scotland: STUC says increase in worker fatalities is “unacceptable and frankly galling” #iwmd23
Commenting on an STV news report Scottish TUC said: “It’s unacceptable and frankly galling that the amount of workers in Scotland who have died at work has increased. We cannot allow this to pass unchecked and on #IWMD23, the STUC reiterate our call to remember the dead whilst fighting for the living.”
Workplace fatalities at highest level since 2019, study finds, STV News, 28 April 2023
Ireland: Teachers’ union CWU Ireland reminds members of their right to elect a workplace safety rep #iwmd23
Pat Kenny -Health and Safety Officer CWU on Workers Memorial Day reminded Workers of their right to select a fellow worker as a Safety Representative. #WorkersMemorialDay #iwmd23
Canada: Day of Mourning 2023: Workers’ empowerment key to workplace health and safety | Canadian Labour Congress #iwmd23
Day of Mourning 2023: Workers’ empowerment key to workplace health and safety
April 28, 2023
As unions across Canada mark the National Day of Mourning, the Canadian Labour Congress wants to ensure workers are empowered to know their health and safety rights in the workplace, defend existing gains and use the tools at their disposal.
April 28 is the National Day of Mourning, a day to commemorate those who have died or been injured as a result of their job. This year’s focus, “Know your rights; Use the tools; Defend our wins,” is aimed at supporting and empowering workers to actively participate in workplace health and safety.
“Workers deserve to arrive home safely at the end of the workday. We expect employers to do their part to keep workers safe, by upholding health and safety standards in the workplace, and providing necessary equipment and training,” said Bea Bruske, President of the CLC. “But we want workers to feel supported in standing up for their hard-won health and safety rights. We want to ensure that workers are empowered, not just to push back in unsafe situations, but to take an active role in the process of keeping themselves and their co-workers safe.”
Across Canada, there were 1,081 accepted workplace fatalities and 277,217 accepted lost time claims across Canada, marking a rise in cases from the previous year.
“One death is already one too many and it should be common sense that employers invest in proven prevention tools, like empowered, well-trained health and safety committees. Yet too many employers are quick to ignore their legal duty to provide safe working conditions and are willing to cut corners in the name of saving a few dollars,” said Bruske. “Make no mistake: we will always fight to uphold workers’ rights, and we won’t back down against anyone who would weaken health and safety legislation to appease businesses.”
Canada’s unions have long fought for better enforcement of existing occupational health and safety legislation, and the Westray sections of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Empowering workers starts with ensuring they know their rights, and how to apply and defend them. Workers should also feel supported in demanding better.
“The bare minimum isn’t good enough, and the stubbornly high number of worker injuries and deaths each year proves it. Employers and governments must respect their own duty to create safe work, call out unsafe work, and be part of a culture of safety and prevention. Workers deserve nothing less,” said Bruske.
Moldova: Munca în condiții sigure și sănătoase – un drept fundamental al salariaților la locul de muncă – CNSM – #iwmd23