世界で
年間２億５０００万人が労働災害に遭い
１１０万人が命を落としている！

【資料のワンポイント解説】
この程、ILOは（１９９９．４．１２、プレスリリース）世界で労働災害の死亡者が年間１１０万人にも達する（毎日３０００人が命を奪われている。）と発表した。
労働災害による死亡者１１０万人は、
　　・交通事故　９９９，０００人
　　・戦争　　　５０２，０００人
　　・暴力　　　５６３，０００人
　　・HIV/AIDS　 ３１２，０００人
による年間死亡者を超すのが現状。

これらの労災事故に適切な対策を講ずることができるならば、「約６０万人の命が毎年救われる」としている。
死亡災害に限定せず、労働災害全体をみると、
現在、世界では毎年、主として開発途上国を中心に、「２億５０００万人の職業上の事故と１億６０００万人の職業病が発生している。」とも報告されている。（労働災害は一日当たり６８万５０００件、１分当たり４７５件、１秒当たり８件発生！）
コメント
開発途上国の安全衛生対策援助は、このような現状から極めて効果大。
（安全衛生対策援助が労働省内の検討から、国全体の検討課題になる雰囲気や環境づくりが必要だろう。）
今回のILOプレスリリースは、コンパクトで要領よく世界の労働災害・職業病の現状をまとめている。
英文であるが資料として掲載する。
なお、次のURLで原文を入手し読むことができる。

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/235press/pr/1999/9.htm

（以下、ILO発表資料）

ILO Home

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION
1999 PRESS RELEASES

ILO Estimates Over 1 Million
Work-Related Fatalities Each Year

Workplace Hazards Evolving
as Technologies Develop

Monday 12 April 1999
Simultaneously released in Geneva and S?o Paulo
( ILO/99/9 )

GENEVA (ILO News) - Over one million work-related deaths occur annually according to ILO estimates and hundreds
of millions of workers suffer
from workplace accidents and occupational exposure to hazardous substances worldwide, the Chief of the ILO's Health
and Safety programme told
delegates assembled today in S?o Paulo at the opening of the 15th World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health.

In a speech to the introductory session of the Congress, Dr. Jukka Takala, Chief of the ILO's Health and Safety
programme, pointed out that
the workplace hecatomb of 1.1 million deaths exceeds the average annual deaths from road accidents (999,000), war
(502,000), violence
(563,000) and HIV/AIDS (312,000). Approximately one-quarter of those deaths result from exposure to hazardous substances
which cause such
disabling illnesses as cancer and cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous-system disorders. He warned that work-related
diseases are expected
to double by the year 2020 and that if improvements are not implemented now, exposures today will kill people by
the year 2020.

In addition, he said that by conservative estimates workers suffer approximately 250 million occupational accidents
and 160 million
occupational diseases each year. Deaths and injuries, he said, continue to take a particularly heavy toll in developing
countries where large
numbers of workers are concentrated in primary and extraction activities such as agriculture, logging, fishing
and mining - some of the
world's most hazardous industries.

Also, according to ILO, some 600,000 lives would be saved every year if available safety practices and appropriate
information were used:

every year, 250 million accidents occur causing absence from work, the equivalent of 685,000 accidents every
day, 475 every minute, 8
every second;

working children suffer 12 million occupational accidents and an estimated 12,000 of them are fatal;

3,000 people are killed by work every day, 2 every minute;

asbestos alone kills more than 100,000 workers every year.

ILO estimates show that the fatality rate in advanced industrialized economies is almost half that of Central and
Eastern Europe, China and
India. In the Latin America/Caribbean region, the fatality rate is even higher and in the Middle East and Asia
(excluding China and India),
the fatality rates soar to four-fold of that in the industrialized countries. Selected hazardous jobs can be from
10 to 100 times riskier.
Construction sites in developing countries are 10 times more dangerous than in industrialized countries.

Industrialized countries have seen a clear decrease of serious injuries as a result of structural changes in the
nature of work and real
improvements in making the workplace healthier and safer, including improved first aid and emergency care which
saves lives in the event of
accidents. However the evolving nature of work is generating new occupational hazards, including musculo-skeletal
problems, stress and mental
problems, asthmatic and allergic reactions and problems caused by exposure to hazardous and carcinogenic agents,
such as asbestos, radiation
and chemicals.

High Cost of Negligence

The economic costs of occupational and work-related injuries and diseases are rapidly increasing. The ILO expert
says that "while it is
impossible to place a value on human life, compensation figures indicate that approximately 4 per cent of the world's
gross domestic product
disappears with the cost of diseases through absences from work, sickness treatment, disability and survivor benefits."
The Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) lost in work-related injuries and diseases is more than that of total GDP in Africa, Arab States
and South Asia together and
more than all official development assistance to the world's developing countries.

In addition to suffering material shortages and inadequate medical facilities, developing countries's problems
are compounded by rapid
industrialization and migration to cities. According to Mr. Takala, in the context of globalization, industries
are being set up, often
informal and dangerous ones, engaging workers without previous experience of industrial work. The provision of
adequate housing and premises
frequently lags the development of new factories and industrial sites.

The need for infrastructure increases construction work, another hazardous occupation, in areas as diverse as housing,
roads, dams and power
and telecommunication facilities, bringing a host of benefits but also problems linked to modern industrial societies,
including traffic,
noise, stress, new products and an array of chemical and synthetic materials which may be hazardous if incorrectly
used or improperly
disposed of. Intense competition for scarce investment capital can contribute to disregard for safety, health and
environmental
considerations, as the large number of fires caused by toy, textile and similar kinds of factories in developing
countries attests.

Coverage for occupational safety and health varies widely in different parts of the world, says the ILO, with,
for example, workers in Nordic
countries enjoying nearly universal coverage while only 10 per cent or less of the workforce in many developing
countries is likely to enjoy
any sort of coverage. Even in many developed countries, coverage against occupational injury and illness may extend
to only half the
workforce.

Strategies to Improve Safety

While arguing for the largest possible coverage of all workers, the ILO says that different strategies to improve
occupational health and
safety are needed in light of the different circumstances countries face. For industrialized countries, priorities
need to focus on
psychological factors linked to poor workplace relations and management, the mental and physical consequences of
repetitive, highly technical
tasks and information on handling new technologies and substances, including chemicals.

In industrializing countries, priorities need to focus on improving safety and health practices in primary industries
such as farming,
fishing and logging, preventing industrial accidents, including fires and leaks of hazardous substances and preventing
traditional accidents
and diseases, including those in informal workshops and home-based industries and involving exposure to silica
dust, which is extremely
hazardous and results in a large number of unnecessary premature deaths each year.

"In countries at all levels of development," Dr. Takala said, "a large proportion of the deaths
and injuries by workers can be attributed to
inadequate safety and health information." He outlined a number of ILO programmes, some developed in conjunction
with the World Health
Organization and the United Nations Development Project to improve safety and health information and networking.

These include the International Programme on Chemical Safety, which develops, translates and disseminates clear
and standardized information
on the properties of chemical substances in the workplace. The ILO also undertakes extensive research and publishes
a large number of
publications, including the 4,000 page ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety, which was published
in an updated 4th edition
last year.

He cited a number of activities in developing countries, ranging from chemical safety programmes for small coal
mines in China, agro-chemical
safety initiatives in Central America and occupational health and safety information campaigns throughout Africa.

Dr. Takala urged the Congress delegates to set a number of measurable targets for improving occupational health
and safety. These include
improved policies and legislation, wider availability of occupational health services, improved infrastructure
and manpower and better
recording and notification systems. In many industries, occupational and work related diseases and injuries are
not even reported: "An
improved safety culture is partly a question of resources and technology, but above all it requires better information,
management and higher
ethical standards in confronting the ever present and ever evolving dangers of the workplace," said Dr. Takala.

The ILO is emphasizing that key occupational safety and health conventions, such as the framework of Convention
No. 155 on occupational
safety and No. 161 on occupational health services should be considered as minimum standards. In addition, the
Global Safe Work Programme is
being launched to provide knowledge, advocacy and services in occupational safety and health and to place this
high on the global,
international and national agenda.

For further information, please contact Bureau of Public Information (PRESSE) at:
Tel: +41.22.799.7940 or Fax: +41.22.799.8577.

Copyright (C) 1998 International Labour Organization (ILO)
Disclaimer
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This page was created by CL. It was approved by KMK. It was last updated on 9 April 1999.