Two experts in occupational safety spoke about the inevitable repercussions of the global economic crisis on the world of work:

The Director of the ILO’s SafeWork, Dr Sameera Al-Tuwaijri highlighted the risks of reducing resources allocated to safety and health in a time of economic downturn. Focus on the economic growth is an expected effect of the crisis but safety and health prevention measures should not be ignored. Indeed, this misjudgement could be responsible for future occupational accidents and result in economic and productivity losses. Work accidents, injuries and fatalities as well as work-related stress can even be potential consequences of the cutback on occupational safety and health expenses, which is why “the crisis should not be an excuse to lessen decent working conditions, but an opportunity to promote them”, according to Dr Al-Tuwaijri.

Jukka Takala, Head of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, declared in the Agency’s Annual Report for 2008: “There is no point in making short-term gains at the cost of long-term problems. All of our work shows that, the more healthy workplaces are, the more productive they also tend to be.” In this report, the Agency emphasized the importance of not downplaying the relevance of occupational safety and health in a time of global economic crisis.