Deaths from diseases and accidents at work reach three million per year

According to estimates published this Sunday by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the number of deaths due to accidents and illnesses at work reaches about three million per year.

In its statement, the organization emphasized that “about three million workers die every year due to work-related accidents and illnesses,” a figure it said “reveals ongoing challenges to protecting the health and safety of workers around the world.” “

According to the ILO, most of the deaths in question, 2.6 million, were caused by occupational diseases, while work-related accidents were responsible for a further 330,000 deaths.

According to the ILO, “diseases of the circulatory system, malignant neoplasms [cancro] and respiratory diseases are among the three leading causes of work-related deaths,” and “together these three categories account for more than three-quarters of total work-related deaths.”

The findings are included in a new ILO report, A Call for Safer and Healthier Work Environments, launched in Australia.

“The report highlights that workplace deaths are not evenly distributed,” with the male mortality rate (108.3 per 100,000 workers) significantly higher than the female mortality rate (48.4 per 100,000).

According to the ILO, the Asia-Pacific region has the highest rate of work-related deaths (63% of the global figure), “due to the size of the region’s workforce”, with “agriculture, construction, forestry and fishing, and Manufacturing industries are also the most dangerous sectors, affecting 200,000 people every year.

The organization estimates that 395 million workers worldwide have suffered non-fatal injuries on the job, damaging their health and causing them to miss work.

For the ILO, priorities in this regard should include improving national legislation on health and safety, strengthening coordination, partnerships and investment in this area at national and global levels, and improving management systems at this level.