News, articles and statements
April 2008
-
News
Luxembourg ratifies 20 ILO Instruments including 15 in the field of occupational safety and health
08 April 2008
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has ratified 20 Instruments of the International Labour Organization – 18 conventions and 2 protocols, most of which are related to occupational safety and health. A combined ratification of such magnitude is relatively rare in the history of the ILO. As a result, Luxembourg has now ratified a hundred ILO Instruments.
March 2008
-
News
ILO Convention No. 187 on occupational safety and health to come into force following ratification by the Republic of Korea
13 March 2008
The Republic of Korea has recently ratified a new ILO Convention, the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health, Convention No. 187. This ratification will bring this important international labour standard designed to promote a “preventive safety and health culture” into force in the next 12 months.
January 2008
-
Video
Why does the world need a new, on-line edition of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety?
01 January 2008
Twelve years after publishing the 4th edition of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, an updated, on-line version is being prepared.
November 2007
-
Article
World Diabetes Day (14 November) - Diabetes in the Workplace
12 November 2007
Diabetes is a disease that currently affects more than 180 million people in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this number is likely to more than double by 2030.
October 2007
-
Video
Burkina Faso: Protecting the Environment by Profiting from Garbage
09 October 2007
Burkina Faso’s first plastic recycling centre is paving the way for a new kind of development project. It provides a money earner to the poor while tackling environmental pollution. Local industry also benefits – the recycled plastic granules cost half the price of importing new plastic from abroad.
-
News
Promoting better occupational safety and health through effective labour inspection to make Decent Work a global reality - Düsseldorf International Conference “Making Decent Work a Global Goal and a National Reality”
09 October 2007
From 18-20 September 2007 over 200 participants from 65 countries from all over the world met in Düsseldorf (Germany) to discuss the practical aspects of implementing international standards for decent work. The Conference was organized by the ILO in partnership with the German and Portuguese governments, the International Social Security Association, WHO, IALI and other international organizations, and with sponsorship from German partners Basi, Messe Düsseldorf, DGUV, Fraport AG, TÜV Rheinland, and BAD Team Prevent.
July 2007
-
Article
Preventing occupational accidents and diseases: Japan becomes first country to ratify ILO Convention No.187
24 July 2007
On 24 July, Japan became the first country to ratify ILO Convention No. 187 committing itself to reinforce its OSH system. The Convention which establishes a promotional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH) was adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2006. ILO Online reports from Japan where a number of serious occupational safety and health problems highlighted the need to further reinforce prevention programmes.
June 2007
-
Article
Promoting sustainable enterprises: safe work is also good business
21 June 2007
“Sustainable enterprises cannot afford to have injuries and diseases at work, which would not only interrupt operations but may have strong economic and reputational consequences”. Eleven enterprises from the Leningrad region in Russia’s North-West had a chance to check this statement from an ILO report to the International Labour Conference against daily practice. Olga Bogdanova reports from North-West Russia.
-
Video
Adoption of the new fishing convention
14 June 2007
Innovative new labour standards designed to improve the conditions for roughly 30 million men and women working in the fishing sector worldwide were adopted today at the 96th annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
-
Video
Tackling Child Labour in Agriculture
12 June 2007
Worldwide, agriculture is the sector where by far the largest number of working children can be found - an estimated 70 per cent, of whom 132 million are girls and boys aged 5-14. These children are helping to produce the food and beverages we consume. Their labour is used for crops such as cereals, cocoa, coffee, fruit, sugar, palm oil, rice, tea, tobacco and vegetables. They also work in livestock raising and herding, and in the production of other agricultural materials such as cotton and cottonseed.
April 2007
-
Statement
Statement by Mr. Juan Somavia, on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work (28 April 2007)
28 April 2007
-
Press release
World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2007: Amid worldwide events, ILO says most accidents at work could be prevented if standards are respected
27 April 2007
Countries around the world are to mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work this year, amid a new call by the International Labour Office (ILO) for applying internationally-agreed labour standards as a primary tool for reducing work-related accidents and illnesses that take some 2.2 million lives each year.
October 2006
-
Video
Zero tolerance for violence against children in the workplace - Video interview with Frans Roselaers (Part 3)
12 October 2006
Frans Roselaers describes the risk of violence that legally working young people face and how children can protect themselves against violence in the workplace. (Part 3 of 3 videos)
-
Video
Zero tolerance for violence against children in the workplace - Video interview with Frans Roselaers (Part 2)
12 October 2006
Child labourers face the risk of violence in work where they are hidden from view, such as domestic work, or in illegal situations, says Frans Roselaers. (Part 2 of 3 videos.)
-
Video
Zero tolerance for violence against children in the workplace - Video interview with Frans Roselaers (Part 1)
12 October 2006
Frans Roselaers, Director of the ILO's Department of Partnerships and Development Cooperation, talks about the global challenge to raise awareness about violence against working children. (Part 1 of 3 videos)
September 2006
-
Press release
ILO hosts interagency meeting to discuss avian flu and workplace impact and response
26 September 2006
The International Labour Office (ILO) is to host an interagency meeting here which will provide an opportunity to examine critical occupational safety and health, employment and livelihood issues in the context of a recent UN Action Plan with regard to the potential spread of the avian flu virus.
June 2006
-
News
ILO to receive support in cash and kind for promotion of safety and health in the workplace
Düsseldorf Trade Fair and Federal Association for Occupational Safety and Health will fund international conferences on safety and health at work15 June 2006
Some 2.2 million people die each year through work-related accidents and diseases, according to ILO statistics. This figure alone illustrates the importance of improved safety and health conditions in the workplace.
-
Article
95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
Occupational safety and health in Kazakhstan: A model for Central Asia13 June 2006
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, working conditions in Kazakhstan deteriorated much the same way as in other former Soviet republics. In the 1990s, more than 3,000 occupational accidents were registered officially each year, causing the death of more than 300 workers.
May 2006
-
Article
95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
Singapore: Charting a new roadmap for safer workplaces29 May 2006
The Conference Committee on Safety and Health will consider a promotional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH), including a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation. The proposed instruments would support placing occupational safety and health high at national agendas, and promote safer and healthier working environments worldwide.
April 2006
-
Article
Chernobyl 20 years after: From disaster, breeding a new safety culture
26 April 2006
When the Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded on the night of 26 April 1986, workers bore the full brunt of the blast, many losing their health, homes, jobs and even their lives. Since then, significant progress has been made in the development of safety and health at work, but the last chapter of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster has yet to be written, says ILO SafeWork specialist Shengli Niu in an interview with ILO Online.