Learn from the pandemic to strengthen workplace safety: UN labour agency

UN news
Apr 28, 2022

Learn from the pandemic to strengthen workplace safety: UN labour agency


The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how effective dialogue between employers, workers and governments, is the best way to strengthen safety and health at work, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report published on Thursday. 

Each year, nearly three million workers die due to occupational accidents and diseases, and hundreds of millions more suffer non-fatal injuries at work, the UN agency reported.

Learning from the pandemic might help prevent millions of deaths, according to the report, which was issued on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. 

Guy Ryder, the ILO Director-General, said occupational safety and health (OSH) remains at the forefront of national response even as countries continue to grapple with the impact of COVID-19, and uneven recovery. 

“The lessons learned from this crisis about the importance of social dialogue in strengthening safety and health at the national and workplace level, need to be applied to other contexts. This would help reduce the unacceptable level of occupational deaths and disease that occur every year.”