World Day for Safety and Health at Work is now an annual event for the ILO, held on 28th April. It is intended to focus international attention on promoting and creating a safety and health culture at work and to help reduce the number of work-related deaths each year. This year, as in previous years, tripartite events are taking place world wide, and a number of products will be available from the SafeWork Web pages on the subject.

The overarching theme for this year is safety and health culture, providing continuity of message with last year, with a special emphasis on prevention. To offer constituents a choice of emphasis, there are two subthemes:

• construction health and safety, and
• younger and older workers' needs related to occupational health and safety.

Last year events were held in over 100 countries worldwide. They ranged from speeches held by leaders from government, employers' organizations and trade unions to street theatre and worker coffee meetings focusing on occupational safety and health. There were also podium discussions between eminent specialists in the field and launches of new technical and legal material related to occupational safety and health.

History of 28 April
In 2003, the ILO began to observe World Day stressing the prevention of illness and accidents at work, capitalizing on its traditional strengths of tripartism and social dialogue. 28 April is also a day the world's trade union movement has long associated with commemorating victims of occupational accidents and diseases.