ILO LIAISON OFFICE – BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER NO. 4/2004
5,000 work-related deaths every day
Each year on 28 April the ILO organises an event called World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The situation
ascertained by the ILO is alarming, with more than 5,000 people dying every day as a result of accidents at work
and occupational diseases. That is equivalent to one death every 15 seconds, and hundreds of thousands of other
workers are injured or contract a disease in their workplace. The events that will take place on 28 April are
intended to draw the attention of governments, unions and employers' organisations around the world to a joint
programme focussing on preventive measures that will curb people's suffering. In most cases the deaths and injuries
caused by accidents and work-related illnesses could be avoided if a real culture of health and safety in the
workplace was established.
To coincide the events that will take place on 28 April, the ILO will publish a report entitled "Safe Work and
Safety Culture", which you can consult by
clicking here.
Key elements of the problem and statistics associated with it are summed up in a fact sheet that has
also been published on the ILO website (
click here).
Finally, please note that the XVIIth Congress on Safety and Health at Work will be jointly organised in Orlando
from 18 to 22 September 2005 by the ILO, ISSA (International Social Security Association) and the National Safety
Council (United States).
Click here for
all the details. This congress will also feature a multimedia and film festival, the deadline for submissions being
1 December 2004.
ILO Governing Body
The ILO Governing Body concluded its work on 26 March after a wide-ranging debate which approved the report by
the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation. During that debate, some delegates called for the
fair application of rules governing trade and finance, stressing the importance of waiving debts of poor countries
and increasing the development aid provided by governments, the aim being to reduce inequalities between countries
and vanquish poverty.
The Governing Body has once again taken up the topic of forced labour in Myanmar and the joint Plan of Action,
which was suspended at the end of May 2003. The Governing Body declared that the recent condemnation of three people
for high treason owing to contacts they had with the ILO damaged the credibility of the government's cooperation with
the organisation. Meanwhile, the Committee on Freedom of Association has assessed the situation in 31 countries,
including Colombia (where 70 trade unionists were murdered in 2003), Venezuela and China.
Furthermore, the Governing Body has adopted a new system for verifying the identity of some 1.2 million seafarers
(see below). In addition it has formalised a code of conduct for ship demolition. The press release published
after the meeting can be consulted by
clicking here.
Stepping up security at sea and in ports
The ILO Governing Body has made a decisive move to step up security measures at sea and in ports by adopting a new
biometric system for verifying people's identity. The model selected is based on a digital imprint converted into
figures serving as a barcode that can be used when making identity cards for seafarers. Some 1.2 million seafarers
are affected. The aim of this new form of identity control is to provide a more consistent response in the face of
seafarers' security requirements, particularly in the wake of the terrorist attacks carried out on 11 September 2001.
The adoption of this new measure was essential for the application of the revised Seafarers' Identity Documents
Convention, 2003 (No. 185), adopted by the International Labour Conference last June, replacing the Seafarers'
Identity Documents Convention (No. 108) of 1958. The new Convention will take effect as soon as two countries have
ratified it.
A press release on this can be consulted by
clicking here.
Reducing unemployment in South Eastern Europe
The official rate of unemployment recorded in countries covered by the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe has
been rising steadily since 1989, especially among young people. Consequently, policies aimed at effectively shoring
up employment are essential in this region, which is why the ILO and the Council of Europe plan to coordinate their
efforts to help countries come up with strategies for doing this. The ILO will offer its expertise to governments,
employers' organisations and unions in these countries in a bid to implement policies that will boost employment.
The first two countries to benefit from this project are Albania and Croatia. The plan is to have two new countries
join the process every year. The Belgian federal government and the General Secretariat of the Stability Pact are
the ILO's two other partners in the implementation of this programme.
New ILO report on respecting workers' rights in Cambodia
In January 1999, the governments of Cambodia and the United States signed a trade agreement on textiles and clothing
aimed at improving the working conditions in what is a key sector of Cambodia's economy. The agreement opens up the
prospect for Cambodia of seeing its quota for clothing exported to the United States rise each year if it can prove
that its labour laws and international standards in this sector are being respected. The ILO has been assigned to
produce a report twice a year on the implementation of these criteria, based on visits paid to companies by a team
of inspectors. These reports influence the decision taken by the US Administration to a certain degree, and the
pressure they bring to bear on employers is resulting in gradual progress with respect to workers' rights.
The latest report drawn up by the ILO inspectors has just been published on the ILO website and can be accessed by
clicking here.
Did you know…?
The ILO's Conditions of Work and Employment Programme (TRAVAIL) is designed to help the ILO's constituents
to promote decent work by taking action in various domains, such as pay, working time, adapting people's working
lives to meet the demands of their private lives, working conditions, and so forth. The programme's website has
now been revised and had new material added (
click here to access it).
You may also wish to note the existence of a technical cooperation programme on working conditions and conditions
of employment in the 10 imminent new EU Member States.
Recent publications
The following recent ILO publication may be of particular interest to our readers:
"Workplace violence in services sectors and measures to combat this phenomenon. Code of practice."
2004, 35 pages; ISBN 92-2-115288-X; €15
Violence in the workplace poses a threat to productivity and decent work. The new code of practice meets the needs
of millions of workers in the services sector who, in both industrialised and developing countries, risk daily exposure
to violence. The publication focuses on the services sector because its workers come into contact with the general
public and are therefore most frequently confronted with violence. It suggests ways of finding and implementing
specific responses to violence at work, promoting dialogue, consultation and negotiation between governments,
employers and workers as well as of drawing up legislation, drafting policies and launching action programmes
at national level.
Click here to order the publication.
Programme of meetings in 2004
Please
click here for a list of ILO meetings
scheduled for 2004.