2008

1. 

   Shining a light of hope: Occupational safety and health in the informal economy. Hundreds of millions of workers worldwide suffer from work-related diseases and accidents.

   09 July 2008

   The ILO estimates that hundreds of millions of workers worldwide suffer from work-related diseases and accidents, the poorest and the least protected being the worst sufferers. Bringing occupational safety and health to those working and living in the informal economy represents a particular challenge as this report from the slums of Pune in India shows.

2006

1. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   Occupational safety and health in Kazakhstan: A model for Central Asia

   13 June 2006

   After the collapse of the Soviet Union, working conditions in Kazakhstan deteriorated much the same way as in other former Soviet republics. In the 1990s, more than 3,000 occupational accidents were registered officially each year, causing the death of more than 300 workers.

2. 

   95th session of the International Labour Conference, 2006
   Singapore: Charting a new roadmap for safer workplaces

   29 May 2006

   The Conference Committee on Safety and Health will consider a promotional framework for occupational safety and health (OSH), including a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation. The proposed instruments would support placing occupational safety and health high at national agendas, and promote safer and healthier working environments worldwide.

3. Chernobyl 20 years after: From disaster, breeding a new safety culture

   26 April 2006

   When the Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded on the night of 26 April 1986, workers bore the full brunt of the blast, many losing their health, homes, jobs and even their lives. Since then, significant progress has been made in the development of safety and health at work, but the last chapter of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster has yet to be written, says ILO SafeWork specialist Shengli Niu in an interview with ILO Online.

4. Is there a decent way to break ships?

   26 January 2006

   GENEVA (ILO Online) - The dispatch of the asbestos-laden aircraft carrier 'Clemenceau' from France to the world's largest ship graveyard on India's west coast for scrapping has focused new attention on the human and environmental dangers inherent in ship breaking. While breaking ships and selling of the scrap and hardware from retired vessels provides work and income for tens of thousands of persons in Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan, the work is dangerous and can cause deaths due to work accidents as well as serious acute and chronic health problems, especially due to exposure to hazardous substances such as asbestos. ILO Online spoke with ILO shipbreaking expert Paul Bailey.