To raise awareness on health and safety and workplace deaths BWI’s Belgian affiliate ACV-CSC held a demonstration in Brussels on 29 April 2019. The participants were dressed in white with a white mask to symbolize the number of deaths due to accidents at work each year in Belgium.
The union is also contacting members of Parliament who are members of the Social Affairs Committee to have their signature on a declaration of commitment. The purpose is to obtain their support for an amendment to the legislation to provide workplace accident victims with an immediate copy of the workplace accident report.
I am Gregorio Guerrel, Secretary of Occupational Health of SUNTRACS, Panama, affiliated to the BWI. I am sending a message to all the leaders and workers of Latin America to continue the fight and commemoration of April 28, International Workers’ Memorial Day hoping that this fight never ends. Specifically, we call for commemoration directly at construction projects, leaving the offices and going where the real protagonists are, construction workers.
(Français)
Je m’appelle Gregorio Guerrel, Secrétaire à la santé au travail de SUNTRACS (Panama), affilié à l’Internationale des travailleurs du bâtiment et du bois. J’envoie un message à tous les dirigeants et travailleurs d’Amérique latine pour qu’ils poursuivent la lutte et la commémoration du 28 avril, Journée internationale de commémoration des travailleurs et que cette lutte ne s’arrète jamais. Plus précisément, nous appelons à une commémoration directement sur les projets de construction, en quittant les bureaux et en se rendant là où se trouvent les vrais protagonistes, les travailleurs du bâtiment
(Español)
Soy Gregorio Guerrel, Secretario de Salud Ocupacional del SUNTRACS, Panamá, afiliado a la Internacional de Trabajadores de la Construcción y la Madera. Les envío un mensaje a todos los dirigentes y obreros de América Latina para que sigan con la lucha de la conmemoración del 28 de Abril, Día Mundial de la Salud y Seguridad en el Trabajo y esta lucha nunca se termine. Específicamente, les pedimos que conmemoren en los proyectos de construcción, que salgamos de las oficinas y vayamos donde están los verdaderos protagonistas, que son los trabajadores.
FENIBABCOM, BWI’s affiliate in Mali celebrated IWMD this Sunday 28th April, remembering the victims of safety and health accidents at work place. In addition, they also honored the hundreds of workers who died due to terrorist attacks that the country faces daily since 2012.
GSTU, the BWI affiliate in Lebanon celebrated IWMD this 28th April at LafargeHolcim plant with a focus on demanding better health and safety conditions for workers at the workplace.
Workers need a minimum of two things from the air in their workplace: that it’s safe to breathe and that it doesn’t explode and kill them.
Since January 2018, 16 dockers and 12 seafarers have died from asphyxiation or explosions in confined spaces – or from falls after passing out due to bad air. That’s a shocking spike in deaths in confined spaces, a workplace hazard long familiar to the shipping industry.
To put the recent deaths in perspective, there have been a total of 145 in the past 20 years, and alarmingly 28 in the past 16 months.
The massive rise in fatalities says everything about the callousness of those running the shipping industry today. Companies that choose to save a dollar rather than train and equip workers to labour safely in confined spaces or invest in an onboard safety culture in which workers are free to take the time they need to vent cargo holds, ensure sufficient good air or question a risk they are facing.
We know that maritime workers are generally aware of the risks associated with entry into confined spaces, but they may not be aware of the details and extent of the varied dangers posed by forest products, coal, iron ore, grains, gases and other cargo.
It is not enough for a worker to rely on opening the hatches for 30 minutes and hoping for the best, or to do the best they can to protect themselves on their own. It is not enough for workers to take all available precautions but sometimes still be caught without sufficient protection by pockets of gases and lack of oxygen. And it is absolutely not enough that workers are left to cope with an inhumane industry by doing what humans have always done for one other: risk their own lives to save their fallen colleagues.
Confined space fatalities 1999-2018. Source: Vistrato Limited 2018.
Last November, two dockers died while unloading logs from the hold of a bulker in Montevideo, likely after exposure to an unexpected fumigant they were not told about. A crew member saw them in distress and entered the hold wearing a face mask, determined to rescue them. During his efforts, his mask was reportedly removed, and he passed out, eventually landing in hospital in an induced coma. A third docker required medical help before the tragic incident was over.
Shipowners have a duty of care for their crew and dockers employed to carry out their cargo operations. Education and procedures are not optional. The negligence of shipowners who disregard standard procedures and cost workers their lives must be met with a punishment proportionate to the lives lost.
The International Maritime Solid Bulk (IMSB) Cargoes Code governs the carriage of bulk cargo worldwide. The IMSB code:
• Identifies and groups cargoes based on hazard
• Provides guidelines for safe handling
• Sets procedures for testing
The ITF Dockers’ and ITF Seafarers’ sections will be at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) working with shipowners to ensure that the regulations governing confined space stand up and are strong enough to protect all maritime workers.
The ITF Dockers’ Section deplores operators who routinely force workers to choose between risking their lives or their jobs. We continue the fight against them and demand accountability.
We join our sisters and brothers from Australia and Canada and echo their call for industrial manslaughter laws for employers deliberately undermine safety a risk workers’ lives.
Our campaign demanding LafargeHolcim respect workers’ rights continues.
It’s time to send management a message on 28 April, International Workers Memorial Day: Health and safety is every worker’s right, and this is Trade Union Business!
More than 150 people were killed working in LafargeHolcim (LH) in 2015-2016. In 2017, there were 65 deaths. During this period LH had 135,000 employees, by 2018 the number of direct employees had been dramatically reduced to fewer than 80,000.
We note with growing frustration, that in 2018, preventable fatal injuries in LH have continued unabated. LH management continued to behave negligently, because they did not comply with safety laws or international standards in several cases that led to the deaths of workers. Victims were almost all contracted or third-party workers. Workers were killed on the job in Cameroon, Guinea, Morocco, Iraq, Nigeria, Uganda; Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico; India and the Philippines; France, Russia and the United Kingdom. Three were killed in Colombia and in the Philippines. Five were killed in Iraq and in Uganda, and nine were killed in India.
This horrific death toll is just a tip of the iceberg, since LH are exposing thousands of workers to substances that in the long run will cause ill health and even premature death.
Going to work at the beginning of the shift and returning home alive and healthy is the most fundamental right of workers. We have to tell LafargeHolcim: Enough is Enough! Respect workers’ rights on health and safety! Trade Unions mean safe work!
Join the Campaign on April 28 by conducting global actions. These include worksite meetings, workplace health and safety inspections and training meetings, as well as campaign press conferences, producing banners and leaflets, work stoppages, memorial services, or demonstrations.
This year, the 28th falls on a Sunday, so workplace activities can be any working day around that date. What’s most important is not HOW you participate, it’s that you DO participate. The more workers and unions that participate, the stronger the message we will send to LafargeHolcim management that workers want a say on health and safety!
I am Kiting from Indonesian Construction Workers Union (SBKI) and I am an informal worker
I hope for K3 (Occupational Safety and Health / OSH) to be the main issue because K3 is a human right and therefore can not create a safe workplace
BWI affiliates can make the K3 related issues their key issue
(Français)
Je suis Kiting du SBKI (syndicat des travailleurs de la construction en indonésie, membre du SERBUK) et je suis un travailleur informel.
Depending on the quotes, there are questions on the santé et la sécurité au travail (SST; également appélée K3 en Indonésie), the principal author of the mondial car il s’agit d’un droit humain, à même de garantir la sécurité du lieu de travail.
J’espère que tous les affiliés de l’IBB pourront faire de la K3 leur priorityité absolue.
Longue vie au SERBUK.
(Español)
Soy Kiting, del SBKI (Sindicato Indonesio de Trabajadores de la Construcción, miembro de SERBUK) y soy un trabajador informal.
Espero que el K3 (cuestiones sobre salud y seguridad ocupacional) sea el principal as well as el mundo entero porque el K3 es and Derecho Humano y, por lo tanto, el K3 puede lograr un lugar de trabajo seguro.
Misperanza es que to dos los afiliados de la ICM puedan hacer que las cuestiones en torno al K3 se conviertan en su tema clave.
¡Qué viva SERBUK!
(German)
I’m Kiting from the Indonesian Construction Union SBKI (a member of SERBUK) and I work in an informal employment relationship.
I hope that health and safety at work (health and safety at work, Keselamatan dan Kesehatan Kerja or K3) will become a major issue around the world, because health and safety is a human right and therefore K3 can contribute to a safe workplace.
My hope is that all BWI affiliates will prioritize K3-related topics.
Safe work is a right not a privilege. International Workers’ Memorial Day, held on 28 April every year, brings together workers and their representatives from all over the world to remember the dead and fight for the living. Unite the union has published a Facebook album containing photos from several of their numerous 28 April activities across the UK.
Workers in the pulp, paper, graphical and packaging sectors, represented globally by IndustriALL Global Union and UNI, are using this 2019 Workers Memorial Day to kick off a yearlong campaign around the three fundamental worker rights needed to make work safe: (1) The Right to Know – workers must know the hazards and risks in their workplace; (2) The Right to Act (commonly known as the Right to Refuse Unsafe Work Without Punishment); and (3) the Right to Participate in the programs and structures that manage safety in the workplace. Each of these Rights will be highlighted with action by workers across the global pulp, paper, graphical and packaging sectors.
May and June 2019 will focus on a Worker’s Right to Know. Right-to-Know laws typically focus on a worker’s right to know the hazardous substances and dangerous chemicals they work with, but workers require information on so much more that could endanger them at work. Workers require:
Information on all workplace hazard information, including dangerous chemicals and materials but also hazardous tools, equipment, work processes and the way work is organized;
An accurate evaluation of hazards. Where gaps in knowledge exist they should be filled;
Hazard and risk assessment done with workers participation. The only people with the moral authority to assess a risk are those who must face it;
This means industrial hygiene surveys belong to workers. Toxicology studies belong to workers. Ergonomic surveys belong to workers.
“We invite the global pulp, paper and packaging sectors to work with workers and their representatives to fully facilitate the right to know and, by doing so, build safer and healthier workplaces, “ said Joaquina Rodriguez, president of UNI Graphical and Packaging.
“All health and safety standards exist because of trade union action and we invite the pulp, paper, graphical and packaging industries to share information, build safety programs and provide a safeguarding course for their workers, “ said Leeann Foster, IndustriALL Pulp and Paper Working Group Co-Chair and Assistant to the International President at the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW).
Similar international mobilizations will be conducted in September/October 2019 around the Right to Act and focusing March/April 2020 on the Right to Participate, culminating with Workers Memorial Day 2020.
Workers Memorial Day, observed by unions across the globe on April 28 of each year, is dedicated to remembering those who have suffered and died on the job and to renew the struggle for safe jobs. Worldwide, more than 380,000 workers die tragically at work each year, and another 2.4 million die from work-related illness.
The pulp, paper, graphical and packaging sectors are extremely dangerous, with a number of fatalities and even more life-altering injuries occurring across the globe annually. Transparency with workers on information relating to their health and safety and employer engagement with workers and their unions is fundamental to address loss of life and limb in the industry.
The two international unions, IndustriALL Global Union and UNI, bring together unions on all continents across these four industries. See more on the two global union websites: www.industriall-union.org and www.uniglobalunion.org.
Safe work is a right not a privilege. International Workers’ Memorial Day, held on 28 April every year, brings together workers and their representatives from a
