The physical and mental health of the labor force “is valuable capital for sustainable development,” said Dr. Hassan Hashemi, minister of health and medical education in a message on the occasion of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (April 28).
In the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) dubbed year of ‘People-Government Empathy’, state organizations and employees’ associations must cooperate to enhance health and safety conditions at the workplace,” he said, Mehr News Agency reported.
The day marks an annual international campaign to promote safe, healthy and decent work launched by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2003.
It has also long been associated with the world’s trade union movement’s commemoration of victims of occupational accidents and diseases. Therefore, executive bodies, workers’ associations, and scientific societies in the country have selected the slogan “Institutionalizing Occupational Safety and Health Culture, Realization of Decent Work” for the current year.
A national occupational safety and health culture is one where the right to a safe and healthy work environment is ensured at all levels. As such, governments, employers and workers actively participate in securing a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and tasks, and where prevention is prioritized over remedies.
Deficiencies
“Certain deficiencies within the area of health and safety at workplace placed Iran low on the global list of countries with decent work, which goes against the values of the Islamic Republic,” Hashemi rued.
He underlined that strategic planning and regard for health indices and safety indicators as well as collaboration between public and private sectors, from lawmaking stages to implementation, are of essence to achieve sustainable development.
Every year around two million individuals lose their lives to accidents and diseases linked to their work. Additionally, some 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year incur a colossal amount of $2.8 trillion in costs for lost man-hours and treatment expenses, compensation, and rehabilitation. Such fatalities, accidents and illnesses are preventable if action is taken in a timely manner.
