Today is Workers' Memorial Day, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work. According to the International Labour Organisation, across the world each year, more than two million women and men die as a result of work-related accidents and diseases.
Workers suffer approximately 270 million occupational accidents each year, and fall victim to some 160 million incidents of work-related illnesses. Hazardous substances kill 440,000 workers annually – asbestos claims 100,000 lives. One worker dies every 15 seconds worldwide. 6,000 workers die every day. Work kills more people than wars.
Workers' Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace accidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisation in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. The slogan for the day is Remember the Dead - Fight for the Living.
2 comment(s):
Thank you for this post.
Almost all of the work injuries I see today in the US are people claiming all kinds of nonsense as work-related in order to get a check. Like many things in this country, what started out as a hard won victory by disenfranchised workers in dangerous industries, is now being abused and it is the employer on the hook for the tab. But we all pay the cost in the loss of more jobs to Mexico and China.
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