For almost 20 years, April 28th has been marked as World Day for Safety and Health at Work. He was named as such by the International Labor Organization with the idea of becoming one of the tools to raise awareness of the importance of occupational safety and health. At the same time, this is also a Memorial Day for all the workers around the world who lost their lives while performing their duties.
This year, the COVID-19 virus pandemic has changed a lot in the world and has become the main topic of all current events, and so it is with this day. As the theme of this year’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the International Labor Organization has put forward the slogan: “Stop the pandemic: Safety and health at work can save lives ” This emphasizes the need to adherence all measures and responsibilities that employers and employees have, to protect themselves against the transmission of the virus in the workplace. Since most of our workers are expected to return to work soon in our country, it is the right time to put the emphasis on this type of workplace safety.
Although COVID-19 virus protection is undoubtedly the most important safety measure at this time, which has put in the foreground the often-neglected protective equipment (masks, goggles, coveralls, etc.), it is also important to remember some basic information about safety at work on this day:
- Every day, 1,000 workers die in the world due to work-related injuries and another 6500 due to work-related diseases
- Annually – there are 390,000 work-related deaths and 2.4 million work-related deaths
- Factors from the workplace account for 2.7% of the total disease burden in the general population
- The most common risk factors in the workplace are: inadequate ergonomic factors, risk factors for mechanical injury, dust particles, gases, smoke, noise …
- The most common cause of death due to these factors are: cardiovascular (32%), malignant (26%) and respiratory diseases (17%)
These data point to the utmost importance of preventing injuries and illnesses caused by these risks, which is exactly what the meaning of occupational safety and health is and what this World Day is all about. The world must continue to live and work in the pandemic circumstances, which means that with all measures of protection against viruses, we must not neglect the importance of personal protective equipment and other measures that make the workplace safe.