28 April is the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers. The day is also known as Workers’ Memorial Day, the Day of Mourning, or World Day for Safety and Health at Work. Most importantly, it is a day for unions to renew their commitment to safety and health at work.
Controlling exposure to toxic substances is one theme that global unions have chosen to emphasize in 2015. Of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals in industrial use, we have substantial knowledge of the health effects of only a small percentage; and suspect that many unidentified killers are among the rest.