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

Copper workers face threats in Chile

3 September 2018 at 09:34

Leaders of the trade unions representing workers at Chile’s state-owned copper company Codelco are receiving threats over their union work.

Union leaders in Colombia face threats and violence

29 August 2018 at 12:08

Colombia is one of the ten most dangerous countries in the world for workers and trade union leaders, where 19 trade union members have been murdered so far this year. IndustriALL Global Union and other federations have expressed their concerns to Colombia's president, Iván Duque.

Pakistan: 19 miners including rescue workers die in coal mine accident

16 August 2018 at 16:11

On 12 August 2018, two days before Pakistan’s Independence Day, a total of 19 including 13 coal miners and six rescue workers died in a horrific accident at Sanjidi coalmine near Quetta in Baluchistan province.

Case study: Glencore in Colombia

2 August 2018 at 09:34

Colombia is another of the resource-rich, conflict-ridden countries favoured by Glencore. The company is well known in the country for its violations of the environment and workers rights, including health and safety and the freedom of association.

South Africa: Mine responsibly and improve working conditions, recommends report

30 July 2018 at 10:06

If public statements on working conditions by mining companies are to be believed, the demands by trade unions on health and safety, workers’ rights, and the ending of unethical labour practices would have been met.

Energy unions demand Just Transition at world conference

26 July 2018 at 16:45

Energy trade unions from 50 countries are united in demanding a Just Transition to protect the rights and living standards of workers as the energy industry experiences massive change.

Brazil's trade union centres seek to further the country's development

26 July 2018 at 16:33

Brazil's seven trade union centres have come together to launch a "Priority Agenda for the Working Class", which includes recommendations on how to further the country's development. They are also organizing a national day against unemployment on 10 August.

Sustainable energy policies vital, say electricity and nuclear unions

25 July 2018 at 07:50

Countries need to develop sustainable, mixed energy policies to ensure a continuous power supply, said representatives of trade unions representing electricity and nuclear workers meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, on 24 July.

Deadly Georgian mine closed after multiple fatalities

18 July 2018 at 19:40

The Mindeli coal mine in Tkibuli, Georgia, has been closed after four miners were killed, and six others were injured.

South Africa: Six workers die in underground fire at copper mine

18 July 2018 at 16:20

With six mineworkers killed and 48 injured in an underground fire at Palabora Copper Mine in the Limpopo Province caused by a burning conveyor belt, increasingly South African mines are becoming death-traps for mine workers.

Bangladesh Accord arbitration cases - resulting in millions-of-dollars in settlements - officially closed

18 July 2018 at 12:10

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has announced that two landmark cases against multinational fashion brands brought under the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety have been officially closed. The tribunal hearing the case issued termination orders this week, and the cases were brought by global unions IndustriALL and UNI.

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.