ILO calls for urgent global action to fight occupational diseases

Occupational disease impoverishes workers

The International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder in a statement issued for the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (April, 28) said: “The ultimate cost of occupational disease is human life. It impoverishes workers and their families and may undermine whole communities when they lose their most productive workers. Meanwhile, the productivity of enterprises is reduced and the financial burden on the State increases as the cost of health care rises. Where social protection is weak or absent, many workers as well as their families, lack the care and support they need”.

Ryder said prevention is the key to tackling the burden of occupational diseases, and is more effective and less costly than treatment and rehabilitation. He said the ILO was calling for a “paradigm of prevention with comprehensive and coherent action targeting occupational diseases, not only injuries”.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said: “Our societies must not accept that workers can lose their health to make a living. And we must not forget that occupational diseases put a huge burden on families and the public purse – a burden that is preventable. Harnessing the knowledge of workers, backed by their unions, is crucial for preventing death and illness”.

In a report issued for the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO said that despite the fact that occupational diseases kill six times as many people, accidents attract greater attention. Of the estimated 2.34 million annual work-related deaths, the vast majority – approximately 2.02 million – are due to work-related diseases. This represents a daily average of 5,500 deaths. The ILO also estimates that 160 million cases of non-fatal work-related diseases occur annually.

Occupational diseases carry an enormous cost – for workers and their families, as well as for economic and social development. The ILO estimates that occupational accidents and diseases result in an annual 4 per cent loss in global gross domestic product (GDP), or about US$2.8 trillion, in direct and indirect costs of injuries and diseases.

Occupational diseases on the rise in Vietnam

Occupational diseases in Vietnam, especially those related to the respiratory and digestive system, increased in 2012 in comparison to 2011, according to the Ministry of Health.

By the end of 2012, nearly 28,000 workers were cumulatively reported to have occupational diseases. The actual number, however, may be ten times higher than that.

A total of 28 occupational diseases have been accepted for health insurance payment. Silicosis is the most common health problem with 74 per cent of cases of occupational diseases, followed by occupational deafness or noise induced hearing loss (17 per cent).

According to the Health Ministry, nearly 2 million workers – or only less than 4 per cent of the country’s active labour force – had health-checks last year.  More than 7 per cent of them had poor health records.

The ILO in Vietnam is helping the country prevent occupational health risks by improving inspection, self-inspection and training on safety standards in hazardous industries including construction, mining and chemicals and through a Japan-funded project, Occupational Safety and Health in Hazardous Work.