Health and safety

IndustriAll demands strong international health and safety standards and empowering workers' rights to:
- know about hazards;
- refuse or stop unsafe work; and
- participate in health and safety decision making.
Workers' rights, employers' responsibilities, and good laws, equal healthy and safe workplaces!

Contact person:

Brian Kohler
email: [email protected]
Tel. +41 22 304 18 49
Fax: +41 22 304 1841

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Timeline

April 28 - International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers

Text of the Agreement with ArcelorMittal on OHS

India: Six workers die at Gerdau steel plant

13 July 2018 at 16:24

Six workers died and three more workers are under treatment in a gas leak accident at the Gerdau steel plant at Tadipatri of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh on 12 July.

Turkish court sentences Soma bosses up to 22 years in prison over deadliest mine disaster

13 July 2018 at 15:54

After a four-year judicial process, a local penal court in Turkey has handed down prison sentences to the former management of the Soma mine following the killings of 301 people in the country’s worst ever mining disaster in May 2014.

Building power to make a difference

5 July 2018 at 12:27

IndustriALL’s regional conference in Kuala Lumpur on 3 – 4 July, brought together unions from the region, providing a platform to highlight and discuss wins, struggles and how to promote women and youth in union structures.

Shell’s abuse of workers exposed at London green-washing festival

4 July 2018 at 15:52

IndustriALL Global Union is calling on Shell to respect the rights of hundreds and thousands of contract workers toiling at its operations around the world, as the company holds its annual green-washing festival in London.

New standard for responsible mining released

28 June 2018 at 10:15

IndustriALL Global Union welcomes the release of the Standard for Responsible Mining today, a ground-breaking global certification programme for industrial-scale mine sites launched by the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA).

Union persecution continues at Tenaris Colombia

21 June 2018 at 15:44

Workers at Tenaris TuboCaribe in Colombia have filed a complaint with the ILO and have been protesting for the past five weeks in front of the factory in Cartagena to denounce the company's systematic attacks on trade union, Sintratucar.

Standing up for workers’ rights at ILC 2018

14 June 2018 at 17:38

During the 107th Session of the International Labour Conference, held in Geneva on 28 May to 8 June, issues important for the labour movement, like a convention for gender based violence in the world of work and violations of ILO conventions, were discussed.

Peru: Workers protest against abuses at Protisa

14 June 2018 at 12:56

On 11 June, workers at Protisa Peru mobilised to protest against job discrimination and the company’s systematic persecution of trade unionists.

South Africa: Union calls for improved health and safety after four mineworkers are killed at Sibanye Stillwater gold mine

13 June 2018 at 15:14

The deaths at Sibanye Stillwater operations in 2018 go beyond previous years with 11 killed in 2016, and nine in 2017. This year the death toll is already at 18 showing that the company’s operations are increasingly becoming death-traps for mineworkers.

Shell unable to answer worker questions at AGM

24 May 2018 at 16:51

Royal Dutch Shell’s executive board failed to give adequate responses to questions on serious violations of workers’ rights at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday.

Pakistan: victims of Ali enterprises factory fire begin to receive compensation

22 May 2018 at 13:39

In September 2012, over 250 workers were killed and 50 more suffered serious injuries in a fire at the Ali Enterprises garment factory in Karachi, Pakistan. Now, after almost six years, victims have started receiving compensation payments based on an agreement reached between German brand KiK and IndustriALL Global Union and Clean Clothes Campaign, mediated by the ILO.

Unions to take joint action against General Electric

15 May 2018 at 10:47

Trade unions representing workers at General Electric from across North America, Europe and Asia have pledged to make workers’ voices heard at the company, at a meeting of IndustriALL's General Electric Trade Union Network in Toronto, Canada, from 7-8 May 2018.

Bangladesh Accord will continue until government is ready to take over its functions

14 May 2018 at 12:59

As the 2013 Accord prepares for its expiry this month and its replacement by the 2018 Transition Accord, the occasion was marked by a joint press conference between the Accord and the Bangladesh association of factory owners (BGMEA).

Ukraine: ArcelorMittal workers fight for their rights

9 May 2018 at 10:45

Workers at the ArcelorMittal-Kryvyi Rih steel plant with the support of the IndustriALL affiliate Trade Union of Workers of Metallurgical and Mining Industries of Ukraine (PMGU) want to sign a new collective agreement ensuring wage increases and safe working conditions.

Pakistan’s deadly mines - 23 workers killed in one day

7 May 2018 at 17:32

In separate incidents on the same day, a staggering total of 23 mine workers were killed and 11 injured in horrific mine accidents in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on 5 May.

South Africa: Four dead as mine claims more lives

4 May 2018 at 17:07

Four workers have died and three are trapped underground as rescue efforts continue at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane Shaft in Westonaria, Johannesburg, which has been closed. This follows seismic incident causing a fall ground on 3 May that saw 13 mineworkers trapped underground. Six have since been rescued and are recovering in hospital.

LafargeHolcim, keep your word, respect workers’ lives!

3 May 2018 at 15:54

For 28 April, hundreds of trade union activists, works councils, shop stewards and workers staged protests at LafargeHolcim operations around the world. Protestors demanded that the cement multinational return to social dialogue and sign global labour agreement with strong provisions for occupational safety to prevent further waste of workers’ health and lives.

Executive Committee calls for greater solidarity

2 May 2018 at 17:50

The need for solidarity to defend trade union rights and challenge violations in global supply chains underlined discussions at IndustriALL’s Executive Committee Meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on 26 and 27 April.

28 April – we mourn for the dead, we fight for the living

28 April 2018 at 09:08

In Geneva on 26-27 April 2018, the IndustriALL Global Union Executive Committee adopted a resolution reaffirming the importance of 28 April, known as the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers, Workers' Memorial Day, or simply the Day of Mourning.

South Africa: Union protests Glencore malpractices

26 April 2018 at 12:49

Hundreds of workers from IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), marched to Glencore's office in Johannesburg on 25 April, protesting against the mining giant’s workers’ and human rights abuses.

Pakistan has failed to learn lessons of Gadani tradegy, say unions

24 April 2018 at 11:58

On 1 November, 2016, 29 workers were killed and several more injured while dismantling an oil tanker at Pakistan’s Gadani shipbreaking yard. Speakers at a seminar on the industry, organized by IndustriALL affiliate the National Trade Union Federation in Karachi on 21 April, said that the government does not appear to have learnt any lessons from the tragedy.

Five years after Rana Plaza, the need for the Bangladesh Accord persists

23 April 2018 at 08:04

A few days before the fifth anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster that killed 1,134 workers, global trade unions and labour rights organizations are calling on all brands sourcing from Bangladesh to take responsibility for workers making their products by signing the renewed Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety.

Workers come out worst in Responsible Mining Index

12 April 2018 at 15:23

A comprehensive new index, ranking large-scale mining companies in six different performance areas, has found that companies are scoring lowest on working conditions.

Pakistan: 11 workers killed in series of mine accidents

5 April 2018 at 13:36

With the horrific mine accident that killed six workers in the Kalat district in Balochistan on 4 April 2018, at least 11 workers at mines in different parts of Pakistan have died since the end of March.

Mozambique: Union shocked by appalling conditions at plastics factory

4 April 2018 at 16:55

Workers at a Chinese-owned plastics factory in Mozambique are being forced to work in shocking conditions according to IndustriALL Global Union trade union affiliate, SINTIQUIAF, which organizes more than 15,000 workers in the chemical and allied industries.