World Health & Safety Day focuses on the improvement in the prevention of workplace incidents and accidents. The ILO celebrates the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April to promote the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. 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.

This day is also a day in which the world's trade union movement holds its international Commemoration Day for dead and injured workers to honor the memory of victims of occupational accidents and diseases and organize worldwide mobilizations and campaigns.

The celebration of World Day for Safety forms 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. Do you have anything specific planned for this day?

Joining the event organised by the TUC in Sunderland supporting Worker's Memorial Day.

A seminar is being held focusing support for workers with cancer. Speakers at the event include Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary and representatives from the Asbestos Support Group and Macmillan Cancer support. This will be followed by a wreath laying ceremony in the Memorial Garden of Sunderland Civic Centre. The event will conclude with a Memorial Service at Sunderland Minster.

Trade unions and hazard groups are supporting similar events on the 28th April in various parts of the country. Details can be found at

www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-11563-f0.cfm#national

Cheers.

Nigel

Meaningless claptrap, to make our TU friends feel and nice and cuddly about each other.

Nigel,

well said.

Phillip

I actively support this event but am constantly annoyed by the campaigns failure to recognise those places that are actively working to reduce accidents and ill health. They often quickly become 'management bashing' events that look very dated to members of the general public.
If this campaign really wants to make a difference it should celebrate the partnership arrangements present in many companies and show the real benefits of working together to reduce accidents and instances of ill health.

Excellent!

Silver Fox

I think you make a valid point.

As Jay has illustrated the ILO, when considering the Day, did not go down the commemorative path. They saw it as a day to re-engage with preventative health and safety measures. While promoting management systems for 2011 might not be the most lively issue to cover, it is important. So they are using the Day to promote positive preventative actions. Workers also need to engage and cooperate with managers to help shape safe systems of work that are effective in practice.

Workers' Memorial Day is a reminder that around 12,000 people in the UK [according to HSE statistics] will die this year from work related accidents and ill-health: mainly ill-health which predominates the figures. Most of this loss could have been prevented.

You are right to stress the success that joint working has achieved. In 1999 the GMB published a series of successful case studies under their 'Working Well Together' initiative. Some of these case studies were published by the HSE as evidence supporting greater worker involvement. In 2000 the TUC published the success of joint working in their 'Partnership for Prevention' programme.

During my time at the GMB we were very influential in convincing the HSE to publish successful case studies as part of the approach to promote success in health and safety. As we see on a frequent basis, failure in health and safety is very successful in creating its own publicity.

The success of these - and other - trade union initiatives has led to worker involvement being a key priority in the HSE's Strategy 'Be part of the solution'. Joint working has been stressed by the HSE as a key measure to pursue.

The HSE has put resources into funding joint manager/health and safety representative training and an initial evaluation of the programme has been very positive. They have also funded health and safety representative training through which 2,400 - mainly non-union - worker representatives were trained between April 2010 and March 2011. Again the initial evaluation was positive.

Health and safety has a high political profile at the moment and it is important that all of us should be promoting our successes. Perhaps IOSH could use the Day to promote their member's successes as examples of how to avoid injuries and ill-health in the future.

Nevertheless there still seems to be a place for those who have lost loved ones through work related causes to have their loss recognised.

Cheers.

Nigel

sdkfz181, you are entitled to your opinion but I find some of your comments offensive, maybe you would have a different opinion if a family member or close friend died or was disabled from a workplace accident.
I lost my godfather to asbestosis, and I am very lucky to be alive after falling through scaffolding, so please think carefully before making such comments in the future.

Sdkfz181,

Almost all empirical/research evidence indicates that it is due to Management/Employers "systems" that most accidents/incidents tend to occur and not due to employees. In fact if Unions can get away with what you have described, in my book that is weak management again giving in rather than resolving fundamental issues. Yes, it takes time, determination and resolve, but Unions normally get away with what you have described when there is weak & ineffective management overall--it is known as "Organisation Culture" and for safety, it is "Safety Culture". There is a vast body of research and practical resources in determining/assessing safety culture (The HSE's safety climate tool is one!). I could go on & on--as I have personally experienced how unions took "advantage" of weak and ineffective management. I accept that it is more difficult to improve the safety or organisation culture in the public sector such as NHS, local authorities, but if change has to be made, it is only effective if the Top Management are committed to it and resource it adequately.

Last but not least, refer to the link below--it gives some info on the origin of the World Safety Day:-

http://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/iwmd.htm