ISLAMABAD: The International day for 'Safety and Health at Work' 2013 will be celebrated tomorrow (Sunday) across the globe including Pakistan with theme "The Prevention of Occupational Diseases" .
The International Labour Organization (ILO) declared this day to celebrate in 2003 to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally at work places.
"It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on emerging trends in the field of occupational safety and health and on the magnitude of work- related injuries, diseases and fatalities worldwide", it said.
The celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO and promotes the creation of a global preventative safety and health culture involving all stakeholders.
In many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, employers' organizations and safety and health practitioners organize activities to celebrate this date.
Worldwide, occupational diseases continue to be the leading cause of work-related deaths.
According to ILO estimates, out of 2.34 million occupational fatalities every year, only 321,000 are due to accidents. The remaining 2.02 million deaths are caused by various types of work- related diseases, which correspond to a daily average of more than 5,500 deaths. This is an unacceptable Decent Work deficit.
The inadequate prevention of occupational diseases has profound negative effects not only on workers and their families but also on society at large due to the tremendous costs that it generates; particularly, in terms of loss of productivity and burdening of social security systems.
Prevention is more effective and less costly than treatment and rehabilitation.
All countries can take concrete steps now to improve their capacity for preventing occupational diseases.
Based on the principle that Decent Work must be Safe Work, SafeWork aims to create worldwide awareness of the dimensions and consequences of work-related accidents and diseases; to place occupational safety and health (OSH) on the international and national agendas; and to provide support to the national efforts for the improvement of national OSH systems and programmes in line with relevant international labour standards.
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