Opening Remarks by Mr. Chang Hee Lee, Director of ILO Country Office for China and Mongolian at the Seminar on Diagnostic Standards of Occupational Diseases, 16 June 2022 in Beijing
Dear Mr Wu Zongzhi, Director-General of Occupational Health Dept. of National Health Commission,
Dear Mr Sun Xin, Director of the National Institute of Occupational Health of China CDC,
Dear friends,
On behalf of ILO, I’d like to warmly welcome you to join this seminar on Diagnostic Standards of Occupational Diseases jointly organized by the ILO and the National Institute of Occupational Health of China CDC.
I’m glad to see ILO’s collaboration with the National Health Commission progresses in a practical manner. Occupational health is an important dimension of the decent work. It is important that ILO could contribute to healthier working conditions and improved health of workers in China. We thank the National Health Commission for its trust in ILO’s expertise. We take the cooperation very seriously and have worked with you in important areas, including supporting the alignment of national laws with international labour conventions through providing technical comments on the revision of laws and the comparative study on Chinese laws and ILO conventions. Earlier this week, the International Labour Conference adopted a resolution to add occupational safety and health to Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which means all ILO Member States are bound to respect and promote these principles and rights, regardless of whether they have ratified the relevant Conventions. With this new development, I see greater potential of cooperation between us and look forward to a more strategic partnership.
This is the second time we jointly organize a webinar in relation to the national list of occupational diseases. This webinar and the one of last July are a sequence, which tells the importance of this topic. We not only mobilized two senior ILO OSH expert to provide strong technical support, but also invited the world-class experts in the field from different countries to share their national experiences. I sincerely thank them for investing large amount of time and providing valuable support. Thanks to these experts, we’ve collected around 80 technical documents from Korea, Germany, Japan and other regions which we hope are of useful reference for your work.
It is good news that China is considering adding musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychological factors into the list of occupational diseases. It will help China to meet higher level of challenges as China is moving towards a higher level of social and economic development. And it is also the right time for China to do so.
MSDs are the most frequently reported work-related health problems. They account for more working days lost than any other type of health problem among EU countries. Worldwide, MSDs represent 40 per cent of global compensation costs of occupational and work-related injuries and diseases. The features of modern work, such as fast pace, tight deadlines, and less control of work pace, long working hours culture such as 996, lead to more prevalent stress and ergonomic risks than before. As a result, muscular pains, mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, and cardiovascular illnesses which are induced or aggregated by long-term mental health problems are affecting more working population than ever before.
The significance of adding MSDs and psychological factors into the list goes beyond compensation and treatment. More importantly, by adding them, we can raise awareness and recognition of the problems and hence promote proper prevention and protection measures. Prevention measures not only help workers avoid unnecessary pains and sufferings but also improve productivity of enterprises. Cost of compensation is often a concern when a country decides whether or not to treat MSDs as occupational diseases. In fact, experiences of many countries show that the best way to reduce the compensation and other economic burden of occupational diseases is through good prevention.
I’ll leave the technicalities to our Chinese and international experts. I just want to highlight the importance of engaging representatives of workers and employers in the whole process. This is a very central element highlighted in nearly all ILO conventions. A sound prevention strategy must be based on full consultation with and between workers and employers both at workplace and in the process of national policy development. If policies or decisions are based on consensus reached between social partners, they will be easier to be implemented and more sustainable. This is why the committee on occupational disease assessment usually includes experts recommended by unions and employers in most countries.
The complexity of the topic may require a series of seminars which could run for a week. Therefore, the agenda of the discussion today is very intensive and challenging. ILO will remain available to provide follow-up support on unresolved technical issues. I wish you a very successful meeting today and look forward to joining you in face-to-face meetings after we return to a post-COVID normal working modality.
Dear Mr Sun Xin, Director of the National Institute of Occupational Health of China CDC,
Dear friends,
On behalf of ILO, I’d like to warmly welcome you to join this seminar on Diagnostic Standards of Occupational Diseases jointly organized by the ILO and the National Institute of Occupational Health of China CDC.
I’m glad to see ILO’s collaboration with the National Health Commission progresses in a practical manner. Occupational health is an important dimension of the decent work. It is important that ILO could contribute to healthier working conditions and improved health of workers in China. We thank the National Health Commission for its trust in ILO’s expertise. We take the cooperation very seriously and have worked with you in important areas, including supporting the alignment of national laws with international labour conventions through providing technical comments on the revision of laws and the comparative study on Chinese laws and ILO conventions. Earlier this week, the International Labour Conference adopted a resolution to add occupational safety and health to Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which means all ILO Member States are bound to respect and promote these principles and rights, regardless of whether they have ratified the relevant Conventions. With this new development, I see greater potential of cooperation between us and look forward to a more strategic partnership.
This is the second time we jointly organize a webinar in relation to the national list of occupational diseases. This webinar and the one of last July are a sequence, which tells the importance of this topic. We not only mobilized two senior ILO OSH expert to provide strong technical support, but also invited the world-class experts in the field from different countries to share their national experiences. I sincerely thank them for investing large amount of time and providing valuable support. Thanks to these experts, we’ve collected around 80 technical documents from Korea, Germany, Japan and other regions which we hope are of useful reference for your work.
It is good news that China is considering adding musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychological factors into the list of occupational diseases. It will help China to meet higher level of challenges as China is moving towards a higher level of social and economic development. And it is also the right time for China to do so.
MSDs are the most frequently reported work-related health problems. They account for more working days lost than any other type of health problem among EU countries. Worldwide, MSDs represent 40 per cent of global compensation costs of occupational and work-related injuries and diseases. The features of modern work, such as fast pace, tight deadlines, and less control of work pace, long working hours culture such as 996, lead to more prevalent stress and ergonomic risks than before. As a result, muscular pains, mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, and cardiovascular illnesses which are induced or aggregated by long-term mental health problems are affecting more working population than ever before.
The significance of adding MSDs and psychological factors into the list goes beyond compensation and treatment. More importantly, by adding them, we can raise awareness and recognition of the problems and hence promote proper prevention and protection measures. Prevention measures not only help workers avoid unnecessary pains and sufferings but also improve productivity of enterprises. Cost of compensation is often a concern when a country decides whether or not to treat MSDs as occupational diseases. In fact, experiences of many countries show that the best way to reduce the compensation and other economic burden of occupational diseases is through good prevention.
I’ll leave the technicalities to our Chinese and international experts. I just want to highlight the importance of engaging representatives of workers and employers in the whole process. This is a very central element highlighted in nearly all ILO conventions. A sound prevention strategy must be based on full consultation with and between workers and employers both at workplace and in the process of national policy development. If policies or decisions are based on consensus reached between social partners, they will be easier to be implemented and more sustainable. This is why the committee on occupational disease assessment usually includes experts recommended by unions and employers in most countries.
The complexity of the topic may require a series of seminars which could run for a week. Therefore, the agenda of the discussion today is very intensive and challenging. ILO will remain available to provide follow-up support on unresolved technical issues. I wish you a very successful meeting today and look forward to joining you in face-to-face meetings after we return to a post-COVID normal working modality.