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World Congress on Safety and Health in Singapore

New Global Estimates on Workplace Injury and Illness and Emerging OSH Challenges to be presented

Media advisory | 29 August 2017
GENEVA /SINGAPORE (ILO News) – The ILO will present new global estimates on the number of work related injuries and illnesses suffered on an annual basis and the overall economic impact of these, at the XXI World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2017 opening in Singapore on 3 September.

The new figures point to a growing body of evidence demonstrating the global cost of failing to adequately address existing and emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) concerns, and to the importance of OSH to sustainable development. Increasingly, OSH challenges are recognized as global challenges that require global solutions.

The World Congress is the main international event on safety and health at work, and will involve some 3,000 safety and health experts, researchers, representatives of employers and workers and decision-makers in governments and public authorities from around the world to exchange ideas, research and best practices on critical issues in the area of occupational safety and health.

As a co-organizer of the World Congress, the ILO will address key occupational safety and health issues and challenges at the tri-annual World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, taking place in Singapore 3-6 September including the following:
  • The future of work and its impact on OSH
  • Global OSH challenges that require global solutions
  • Need for reliable and comparable OSH data
  • Improving occupational safety and health in global supply chains
  • State of OSH knowledge development and networking
  • Healthy work and trends in occupational health
  • Estimating the benefit of OSH to society
  • Compliance strategies and good practices in OSH
For this World Congress, the ILO has organized, as part of its SafeYouth@Work Project, a parallel Youth Congress bringing to Singapore 125 young people selected based on their commitment to improving the safety and health of young workers. The work of the Youth Congress will be to build a corps of youth OSH Champions who can be the voice of youth in solving the significant OSH challenges faced by young workers. The Project will also present the winners and winning submissions from the first ever ILO SafeYouth@Work Media Competition. The competition will showcase media submissions by youth from around the world, on what safety and health at work means to them.

Held every three years, the World Congress is jointly organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), and is hosted this year by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower.

The Congress is an opportunity for the ILO to showcase its work in OSH over the last three years and to contribute to the Congress’s objectives for building a world of work that is safe and healthy.

Media contacts

For further information, interview requests, background information and documents please contact in Singapore:

Jared Bloch – M: +4179/593-1482: bloch@ilo.org