Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety. Second edition

Abstract

Around 270 million people in the world fall victim to occupational injuries, fatal and non-fatal every year. A recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report estimates that approximately 2 million occupational fatalities occur across the world annually. The social and economic cost to the workplace as well as to individuals is considerable. Occupational injuries and accidents are all caused by preventable factors which could be eliminated by implementing measures and methods that already exist. Many industrial countries have extensive and comprehensive systems of occupational safety and health (OSH) management, and this is demonstrated by consistently reduced accident rates. An increasing proportion of occupational injuries in the world are occurring in developing countries. A factory worker in Pakistan, for example, is eight times more likely to be killed at work than a factory worker in France. The degree of protection against occupational hazards varies not only by nation but also by economic sector and size of the enterprise. The highest rates of occupational accidents occur in agriculture, forestry, mining and construction, and generally, small enterprises have a worse safety record than large ones. The economic costs of these injuries and deaths are colossal and involve individuals, enterprises and nations and indeed the entire world. Taking into account compensation, lost working time, interruption of production, training and retraining, medical expenses, and so on, estimates of these losses are routinely put at roughly 4 per cent of global GNP every year, and possibly much more. Nobody is completely unaffected by occupational hazards and accidents. In addition to the available traditional measures and methods to protect workers, good OSH systems are those that constantly update their mechanisms to account for new risks and hazards that appear in the workplace. Over the last decade, the scope, direction and magnitude of OSH have evolved significantly both at national and international levels