The great recession of 2007–09 had a negative effect on OSH in many countries.
Occupational injuries and fatalities take an even greater toll in LMICs, where a large portion of the population works in the informal sector or in high-hazard sectors, including agriculture, construction, fishing, and mining, with associated costs as high as 10 percent of GDP. Consequently, although the true burden of occupational injury in HICs remains uncertain, an estimated 6.9 million worker injuries occurred in the European Union (EU) during 2006 and 8.5 million occurred in the United States during 2007 ( Chau and others 2014 Leigh and Marcin 2012). These firms and jobs are underserved by OSH regulations and enforcement are difficult to reach with traditional OSH services and have greater, but largely hidden, risk for accident and injury. However, in HICs the number of small firms and informal sector jobs has grown markedly. The steady decline in Australia, North America, and Western Europe is due, at least in part, to the export of labor-intensive and often more dangerous industrial production to regions where salaries are lower, workplace regulations are less stringent, and working conditions are generally poorer. Occupational injury rates have been rising in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but declining in high-income countries (HICs), although the effect of globalization has been mixed. Estimates from the International Social Security Association (ISSA) suggest that costs associated with nonfatal workplace accidents alone equal approximately 4 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) each year ( ISSA 2014 SafeWork 2012).Īlthough virtually every job entails some risk for injury, the magnitude of risk varies widely across jobs, sectors, geographic regions, and individuals. Poor workplace safety and health place a substantial economic burden on individuals, employers, and society. Despite great strides in improving OSH during the past century, an estimated 317 million nonfatal occupational injuries and 321,000 occupational fatalities occur globally each year, that is, 151 workers sustain a work-related accident every 15 seconds ( ILO 2013a).
Globalization affects the structure of workplaces, the way work is performed, and occupational safety and health (OSH). The world of work has changed dramatically.
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