JAKARTA (ILO News) – In conjunction with the commemoration of the Wold Day for Safety and Health which falls on 28 April, the International Labour Organization (ILO) is conducting series of activities, focusing on the need to improve the safety and health of young workers. In collaboration with SINDIKASI, a trade union for young media and creative workers, the ILO organizes an Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Festival titled “Generation Safe and Healthy” on Saturday, 28 April, at Gedung Kerta Niaga Kota Tua, Jakarta.

This OSH Festival is part of the joint global campaign aimed to accelerate action to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 8.8—promoting labour rights and promoting safe and secure working environments for all workers by 2030. Reaching this goal requires renewed commitment and integrated approaches to promote a culture of prevention on OSH, particularly for young workers.

“The UN sustainable development goals make clear, the future of the world we want is for children and youth to have the opportunity to grow up safe and healthy, to have the opportunity to go to school and when they are old enough to enter the labour force, to have the opportunity to engage in work that does them no harm and supports their health and well-being,” said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, in his official statement.

Mr Ryder stated that globally there are 151.6 million children, who should be in school, are working and almost half of those children 72.5 million, are engaged in hazardous work. Meanwhile for youth who are old enough to enter the labour force, they experience a 40 percent greater incidence of injury on the job than their adult counterparts.

“For nearly 100 years, the ILO has worked diligently on the issues of child labour and occupation safety and health with many significant achievements. The IlO flagship programmes, IPEC + and Global Action for Prevention, will continue that important work by joining forces in a campaign under the banner “Generation – Safe and Healthy”,” he continued.

Mr Ryder stated that together with the UN Youth Envoy, the ILO called on OSH stakeholders to take action and to invest in young worker safety and health. That call to action was echoed in Buenos Aires, in November, during the IV Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour and during as series of global consultations where young people working with policy makers and others committed to building generation of safe and healthy workers.

“These efforts culminated in an Action Plan on OSH for Youth. The Action Plan makes clear that young people must be part of finding OSH solutions and will help to ensure their voice is both informed and heard. Young people around the world are already making their voices heard and showing the support for a GENERATION-committed to Safety and Health,” he stated.

Globally, 541 million young workers (between the ages of 15 and 24) account for 15 percent of the world’s labour force. They sustain up to 40 percent more non-fatal occupational injuries than do adult workers (workers older than 24) and workplace hazards can pose a threat to their lives.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is known for its young population as half of its total population are people below 30 years old. With the shifting from agricultural sector to industrial and services sectors, one of the sectors employing a numerous number of young workers is the construction sector. However, 90 percent of those working in the construction sector are still lacking OSH awareness and implementation with the majority of workplace accidents occurring in this sector.

For further information please contact:

Lusiani Julia
ILO Programme Officer
Tel.: +6221 3913112 ext. 135
Email: lusiani@ilo.org

Gita Lingga
ILO Communications Officer
Tel.: +6221 3913112 ext. 115
Email: gita@ilo.org