Poland: Światowy Dzień Bezpieczeństwa i Ochrony Zdrowia w Pracy 2024

Poland’s Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP) – National Research Institute, has announced that on 28 April its activities will focus on the impact of climate change on safety in the work environment. It says heat, extreme weather events, UV radiation or air pollution, increased exposure to hazardous chemicals, as well as diseases transmitted by parasites are some of the challenges we face due to climate change. It notes these factors can have a significant negative impact on our safety and health at work. CIOP is encouraging “actions that will raise awareness of this problem in your work environment and allow you to develop solutions to ensure safe and healthy work in times of changing climate.”

Polish 28 April webpage

USA: The AFL-CIO 28 April webpage is live

Sticker with "Mourn for the Dead | Fight for the Living"The AFL-CIO’s Workers Memorial Day web page is now live – orders can be placed for posters, stickers and fliers in both Spanish and English. Materials can also be downloaded here. The toolkit will be released shortly. AFL-CIO has selected the theme  ‘Good Jobs. Safe Jobs. Protect Our Rights.’ The focus is on promoting contracts that ensures good jobs are fundamentally safe and also  to protect and deepen health and safety rights. Affiliates are requested to share their 28 April events so AFL-CIO can help with promotion. 28 April queries should be directed to Ayusha Shrestra – ashrestha@aflcio.org

A sticker with the words, "Honremos a los muertos. Luchemos por los vivos. Dia de conmemoracion de los obreros caidos."

A poster with the words, "Good Jobs. Safe Jobs. Protect our Rights. Workers Memorial Day April 28."

28 April resources: Climate risks for workers

28 April resources: Climate risks for workers

ITUC

ITUC climate change webpages.

ITUC global shifts – just transition webpages.

Biological hazards and the work environment: Trade union position and priorities ahead of the International Labour Conference 2024 first discussion on occupational safety and health protection against biological hazards, ITUC, December 2023.

Peligros biológicos y entorno laboral: Postura y prioridades de los sindicatos de cara al primer debate de la Conferencia Internacional del Trabajo 2024 sobre protección de la salud y la seguridad en el trabajo contra los peligros biológicos, CSI, Diciembre 2023.

Risques biologiques et environnements professionnels: Position et priorités des syndicats en prévision de la première discussion de la Conférence internationale du Travail 2024 sur la protection de la sécurité et de la santé contre les risques biologiques sur les lieux de travail, CSI, Decembre 2023.

Hazards

Climate and workers’ health webpages.

ILO

ILO social protection, climate change and just transition webpages.

ILO ACTRAV (workers’ bureau) environment and climate change webpages.Working on a warmer planet: The impact of heat stress on labour productivity and decent work, ILO, July 2019.

ETUC

Adaptation to Climate Change and the world of work webpages.

Adaptation to Climate Change and the world of work: A guide for trade unions, ETUC, 2020.

Related toolkits in other languages.

EN • DE • FR • ES • IT • PT • NL • HR • PL • GR • FI_videoCZ_Guide

Other

HesaMag special edition, Workers and the climate challenge | etui Winter 2023

The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work in an Era of Climate Change, NELP, 27 March 2023.

Environmental heat stress on maternal physiology and fetal blood flow in pregnant subsistence farmers in The Gambia, west Africa: an observational cohort study, The Lancet Planetary Health, volume 6, issue 12, e968-e976, 1 December 2022.

Muhammad Hidayat Greenfield. An urgent need to reassess climate change and child labour in agriculture, The Lancet Planetary Health, first published online 18 May 2022.

MCN Position Statement: Climate-Integrated Disaster Preparedness Needed to Protect Most Vulnerable Workers, Migrant Clinicians Network, December 2021.

Xiuwen Sue Dong and others. Heat‐related deaths among construction workers in the United States, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, First published online 22 July 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23024

ETUC Resolution on the Need for EU Action to Protect Workers from High Temperatures, adopted December 2018.

Climate crisis a major workplace risk, warns ITUC

#iwmd24   |   Climate risks for workers   |    ITUC International Workers’ Memorial Day/Day of Mourning theme announced

The climate crisis is creating new and heightened occupational risks to workers, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is warning.

Extreme weather and changing weather patterns are affected job security and health for workers, the global union body says. In response to the crisis, it says, the theme for International Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April 2024 will be ‘Climate risks for workers’.

 Heat-related deaths and diseases in workers in agriculture, construction and other outdoor jobs have soared, ITUC notes. It adds work in extreme weather can cause fatigue and increases in workplace injuries and stress-related disease. Elevated levels of airborne pollution associated with heatwaves can lead to increased hospitalisations and deaths, it warns. And it adds higher UV exposures place workers at risk of chronic health problems, including skin cancer and eye damage (macular degeneration).

The ITUC alert comes in the wake of climate-related health warnings from UN agencies. A World Health Organisation (WHO) December 2023 statement noted the year had witnessed “an alarming surge in climate-related disasters, including wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, leading to the displacement of populations, agricultural losses and heightened air pollution. The ongoing climate crisis has significantly increased the risk of life-threatening diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue.”

A September 2023 International Labour Organisation (ILO) just transition policy brief, Occupational safety and health in a just transition, noted the climate crisis “without proper controls in place, may increase the risk for injury, disease and death for workers due to heat stress, extreme weather events, exposure to hazardous chemicals, air pollution and infectious disease, among others.”

ILO added: “Numerous health effects on workers have been linked to climate change, including injuries, cancer cardiovascular disease, respiratory conditions, and effects on their psychosocial health. There has been an increase in the estimated number of deaths among the global working-age population due to exposure to hot temperatures.”

ITUC notes that climate change is also putting workers at increased risk from infections. “The climate crisis, urbanisation and changing land use are impacting on occupational health and safety and have led to biological hazards posing new risk or risks in new places,” a December 2024 ITUC briefing on biological hazards notes.

It is a point reinforced in the ILO just transition policy brief, which warns “risks from vector-borne diseases, such as malaria or dengue fever, will increase with warming temperatures, including potential shifts in geographic range of these vectors as a result of climate change.

“This development affects all workers, especially outdoor workers who are at higher risk of contracting vector-borne diseases, from vectors such as mosquitoes, fleas and ticks. Moreover, infectious diseases may also affect workers via waterborne and foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella spp. when they have direct contact with contaminated water or food.”

ILO has said it will commemorate World Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April, and will follow the theme adopted by ITUC and unions worldwide, focusing on “the impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health”. ILO added it will produce supporting promotional materials including a poster and report and will organise a global event with experts and guest speakers from governments, employers and workers “to discuss how to protect workers and respond to this global challenge.”

ITUC will produce its own guides and social media resources which will be available on its dedicated International Workers’ Memorial Day website, www.28april.org

Resources

ITUC climate change webpages.

ITUC global shifts – just transition webpages.

Hazards climate and workers’ health webpages.

ILO adopts climate risks theme for 28 April 2024

The impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health

Every 28 April, the International Labour Organization (ILO) commemorates the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, focusing on a timely theme related to occupational safety and health.This year, the theme will mirror the theme adopted by unions worldwide, and will focus on exploring the impacts of climate change on occupational safety and health.Changing weather patterns have notable impacts on the world of work, particularly affecting workers safety and health. Examples of occupational risks exacerbated by climate change include heat stressUV radiationair pollutionmajor industrial accidentsextreme weather events, an increase in vector-born diseases and increased exposure to chemicals.The ILO will produce several materials for the World Day 2024, including a report, promotional materials, as well as a global event with experts and guest speakers from governments, employers and workers to discuss how to protect workers and respond to this global challenge (April 2024 Exact Date To be announced).

Promotional Materials

 

Contact Information

Safe Day Team


Email : safeday@ilo.org

Manal Azzi, Occupational Safety and Health Team Lead


Email : azzi@ilo.org

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/safety-and-health-at-work/events-training/events-meetings/safeday2024/lang–en/index.htm

 

 

 

France: CFDT calls for the right to walk out of overheated workplaces – #iwmd23

Construction confederation BWI member, CFDT, made a 28 April call to have heat recognised as ‘bad weather’ and thus allow workers to stop their work.

CFDT homepage

Belgium: On 28 April unions commemorated workplace victims and warned of the dangers of atypical working – #iwmd23

BWI affiliate ACV  conducted a ceremony with invited  Italian unions to commemorate the Italian workers who worked in the mines in Belgium.

FTGB, another BWI affiliate, reported the results of a survey investigating the impact of atypical working hours on workers’ well-being (weekends, nights, etc.). The headline finding is that ninety per cent of workers on atypical hours will not “be able to last until 65 years old!”

 

France: Meetings, protests and tributes to mark 28 April – #iwmd23

In France, BWI member CGT conducted several activities to mark 28 April including a meeting at the Ministry of Labour, a protest
at a construction site of Grand Paris and the installation of a plaque in tribute to victims of occupational accidents and diseases.

Global: Call to strengthen global tools to limit trade in toxic chemicals – IUF #iwmd23

On April 28, International Workers Memorial Day, we mourn those killed at work and pledge to fight hard for the living by winning safer workplaces.

In 2022, the ILO’s International Labour Conference agreed to include the right to a safe and healthy workplaces as a fundamental right at work alongside the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association, equality, no forced labour and no child labour.

Exposure to pesticides regularly kills or destroys the health of thousands of agricultural workers. A shocking report in 2021 estimated that there are 385 million cases of unintentional, acute pesticide poisonings annually including 11,000 fatalities among farmers and farmworkers.

This year, the IUF is joining with global unions and national federations to demand more effective control of the international trade in hazardous chemicals. There are more than 350,000 chemicals circulating in the global economy, supposedly controlled by the Rotterdam Convention; however, the labour movement has been highly critical of the Convention for its weak procedure resulting in the failure to control paraquat and asbestos. Also concerning is the influence of the pesticides industry over the application of the Convention.

Currently, the Convention’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure for hazardous chemicals and pesticides ensures that countries exporting pesticides must seek the prior informed consent of the importing countries before shipping; however, to list products using the PIC procedure requires consensus. This requirement, initially introduced to foster cooperation, has instead evolved into a veto mechanism that is now threatening the viability and effectiveness of the Convention.  A small group of countries continue to block the listing of several highly hazardous substances.

In May 2023, the 11th Conference of Parties for the Rotterdam Convention will be meeting in Geneva, and the IUF along with sister global unions will be campaigning for the adoption of a new annex to the Convention which will allow parties who want to share information about a substance considered dangerous by the Chemical Review Committee to do so, even when the listing of the substance has been blocked by a failure to reach consensus. Listing on the new annex will require a 75% majority vote. Furthermore, for chemicals listed in the new Annex VIII, explicit prior informed consent will be required from the importing country before the hazardous substances can be shipped.

In addition to union support, the amendment is strongly supported by many countries and numerous experts including three UN Special Rapporteurs: Marcos Orellana, Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights; David R. Boyd, Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment; and Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

They have issued a joint statement which recognizes the importance of the Rotterdam Convention as a “tool to advance the right to information and effectively prevent exposure of people, soil, and water resources to toxics” but criticizes the procedure which allows a handful of countries to “persistently block the listing of hazardous chemicals.”

Click HERE to read the IUF’s press release.

“The breakdown of the science-policy interface mechanism in the Rotterdam Convention undermines the realization of the human right to science and the effectiveness of the instrument. Governments have a duty to align their policies with the best” available scientific evidence.
UN Special Rapporteurs statement

Europe: BWI’s “Make it happen” campaign sweeps Pan Europe

On International Workers Memorial Day, BWI affiliates across the Pan European region gathered together to raise their voices and demand that occupational health and safety become a reality in every workplace across the continent.

Over the last year, BWI affiliates throughout Europe signed over 100 Declarations with employers and employer associations to recognise occupational health and safety as a fundamental worker’s right. Many BWI affiliates decided this year to return to employers who have signed the said declarations and meet with workers to see if the situation had improved over the year.

Tajikistan’s building workers union was able to arrange 27 union meetings with 500 workers employed in different construction sites. Workers voiced their full support for BWI “Make It Happen” campaign as they conceded that occupational health and safety remains a major concern in the construction industry.

Over 50 activities were organised by BWI affiliates across Europe to support BWI’s “Make it Happen” campaign, including meetings with workers, issuance of trade union statements and videos, TV interviews, conferences, and workshops.

BWI news

Remember the dead, fight like hell for the living

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