Targets of Occupational Health

The Strategy of Occupational Health and Safety issue sets national targets to:
 reduce the incidence of work-related injury fatalities by at least 20% and to
 reduce the incidence of workplace injury (including musculoskeletal
disorders) by at least 40% by 30 June 2012.

Occupational health is at the centre of sustainable development in the following

ways:

 The prevention of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases and the

protection of workers against physical and psychological overload imply
appropriate use of resources, minimizing the unnecessary loss of human and
material resources.
 The objective of healthy and safe work environments calls for the use of safe,
low-energy, low-toxic-emission, low-waste (green) technology, and in many
countries occupational health legislation requires the use of the best
available production technology.
 The occupational health approach may facilitate undisturbed production that
increases the quality of products, productivity and process management and
helps to avoid unnecessary loss of energy and materials and to prevent an
unwanted impact on the environment.
 Many environmental hazards and burdens are derived from occupational
settings, e.g. industry, agricultural practices, transportation and services.
Those responsible for occupational health and safety are well informed of
processes and agents that may be hazardous to the environment. Often this
information is available to them from the earliest stage of a problem enabling
primary prevention which is no longer possible once the hazardous elements
are released into the general environment.
 The impact of occupational health on environmental protection from
industry is likely to be both effective and cost-effective. In many
industrialized countries there are moves to make closer links between
occupational health and environmental health approaches.
 Occupational health services aim to ensure workers’ health, safety, working
capacity and well-being. A healthy, productive and well motivated workforce
is the key agent for overall socioeconomic development. In addition, high-
quality and productive work ensures healthy production of materials, goods
and services and the consideration and practical implementation of the
principles of sustainable development.
 Most environmental health hazards that have later been found to affect the
health of the general population were first detected in the work
environment. The occupational environment provides an early warning
system for certain
 For many adults the work environment is the most demanding environment
in terms of physical, chemical, ergonomic or psychological stresses and
physical workload. The principle of the Rio Declaration with regard to a
healthy and productive life is particularly relevant to the work environment
and calls for occupational health action.
 The state of the general environment and the ecosystem has an impact on the
health of workers either directly or indirectly in several occupations, e.g.
agriculture, mining, fishery and manufacturing. There is a two-way
relationship between occupational health and safety on the one hand, and
occupational health and sound environmental development on the other.
 Equally important for personal well-being and for socioeconomic
development of communities and countries is an employment policy that
ensures access to work for everyone and enables individuals to sustain
themselves and their families. Highest possible employment is also a key
factor in the safe, stable and sustainable social development of countries,
while high unemployment rates and other associated problems endanger
such development.
 In developing countries, the health and well-being of the family is critically
dependent on the health and productivity of its working member, thus
making several members of the community dependent on the health of the
worker. In a situation where organized social protection is lacking, the loss of
health, life or working capacity of such a key member of the family often
means severe crisis for the rest of the family, affecting indirectly the well-
being, health and economy of communities at large and of future generations.