By Hans-Horst Konkolewsky
Every year more than two million people die and tens of millions more are injured as the fast-changing world economy brings new risks and new dangers to the workplace.
Along with the suffering, work injuries and diseases have negative consequences on productivity and growth. Improving safety and health in the workplace urgently requires a concerted global effort from political, social and business leaders.
The economic impact of work-related accidents and diseases is massive. The financial burden of compensation, health care, rehabilitation and invalidity on the economy could be as much as 4 percent of national GDP, and even higher in some developing countries.
Mounting evidence confirms that promoting safety at work not only saves lives, but also makes sound economic sense. In Germany for example, social security experts estimate that accident prevention measures in recent decades have saved industry billions of euros each year.
Increased health and productivity of workers are strategic assets not only for companies in local and global markets, but societies as a whole.
Despite a measurable reduction in work-related accidents resulting from decades of accident prevention work by social security and other institutions, both industrialized and developing economies are now faced with new challenges to safety and health.
Many countries are experiencing rises in chronic diseases linked to changing lifestyles and environmental factors such as asbestos. There are new risks associated with technologies, stress, psychosocial pressures and ergonomics.
Economic globalization, the growth in informal employment, and increased migration make the challenges to occupational safety and health more complex.
The profound changes in the world of work, and the increased complexity of safety and health risks, urgently require a coordinated response from social security institutions, workers, employers and governments.
The Safety and Health Summit, which opened in Seoul on 29 June, will provide an opportunity for key economic players and international organizations to reinforce coordinated approaches to occupational safety and health.
The event brings together over 4,000 experts, policy-makers, senior executives from multinational companies, social security managers and representatives of workers and employers.
It is jointly organized every three years by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the World Congress on Safety and Health.
This time the congress is hosted by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), under the theme ``Safety and health at work: A societal responsibility.''
Safety and health at work must be recognized as a strategic asset for companies and society, and greater investment is now needed. Prevention of occupational risks requires innovation and new partnerships of all actors involved in promoting workers' health.
It is my hope that the World Congress will lead to new political commitments to occupational safety and health, and raise awareness that it is everyone's responsibility. Our message to the world must be that prevention pays.
Hans-Horst Konkolewsky is an occupational safety and health specialist, and the secretary general of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the principal international organization bringing together social security institutions and agencies, and co-organizer of the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work (www.safety2008korea.org).