From 11 April to 1 May, an exhibition “Everyone has the right to have a secure job” dedicated to the World Day for Safety and Health at Work runs in the Documents of International Organization Reading Room (room 207g).

This Day has been annually celebrated on 28 April since 2003 by the International Labour Organization (ILO). It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on the magnitude of the problem and on how promoting and creating a safety and health culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.

The history of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work began in 1989, when the unions and workers held "Day of Remembrance of Deceased Workers" in the U.S. and Canada in memory of those who had died or suffered in the workplace.

Today it is a holiday of the global scale which is celebrated in more than 100 countries of the world. In many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, employers’ organizations and safety and health practitioners organize activities aimed at preventing accidents and illnesses in the workplace. These activities are carried out within the framework of the Global Strategy for the ILO’s Occupational Safety and Health, as documented in the Conclusions of the International Labour Conference in June 2003.

The basic idea of the Global Strategy is that each of us is responsible for stopping deaths and injuries on the job. As governments we are responsible for providing the infrastructure – laws and services – necessary to ensure that workers remain employable and that enterprises flourish. This includes the development of a national policy and programme and a system of inspection to enforce compliance with occupational safety and health legislation and policy. As employers we are responsible for ensuring that the working environment is safe and healthy. As workers we are responsible to work safely and to protect ourselves and not to endanger others, to know our rights and to participate in the implementation of preventive measures.

According to ILO estimates, out of 2.3 million occupational fatalities every year, only 337 million people are due to accidents.

Each year it is chosen a theme which covers one or more of the important problems in the field of labor. The theme for the 2014 World Day for Safety and Health at Work is “Safety and health in the use of chemicals at work“.

The constant growth of production and use of chemicals in the workplace pose a real problem for society as a whole, and for the world of work. Finding the right balance between the benefits of the use of chemicals and measures of prevention and control for their possible adverse impact on workers, jobs and the environment should be a constant concern and at the same time a priority for governments, employers, workers and their organizations.

In Belarus, much had been done to ensure the functioning of the state of OSH management system. There was formed a national legal and regulatory framework for state supervision and public control over observance of labor legislation.

The exhibition contains more than 60 documents in Russian and English languages. Most of the exposition consists of ILO documents: books, pamphlets, mimeographed materials, periodicals and booklets.

The exhibition includes the following sections:

Everyone has the right to have a secure job.
Rulemaking, standards, ILO conventions and recommendations in the field of labor.
The system of labor protection in the Republic of Belarus.

The exhibition is designed for professionals in the field of labor and international labor law, labor economics and social relations managers and specialists of public authorities and trade unions, as well as for graduate students and researchers.

Reading list

Useful links

Documents

Labor:
Resolutions of the General Assembly
ECOSOC resolutions
Reports of the Secretary-General
Compliance with safety and health standards at work (International Labour Conference, Dusseldorf, Germany, 3–6 November 2009)
Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 97th session (Geneva, 2008)
Guidelines for OSH management systems
Recommendation 2002 on the list of occupational diseases
Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour [Convention No. 182] (1999)
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998)

Everyone has the right to have a secure job

Informational resources

Services