GENEVA (ILO News) – Nearly three million workers die every year due to work-related accidents and diseases, an increase of more than 5 per cent compared to 2015, according to new ILO estimates. The toll underscores the persistent challenges in safeguarding the health and safety of workers, globally.
The report underlines that more men die from work-related incidents (51.4 per 100,000 working age adults) compared to women (17.2 per 100,000). The Asia and the Pacific region has the highest work-related mortality (63 per cent of the global total) because of the size of the region’s workforce.
Agriculture, construction, forestry and fishing and manufacturing are the most hazardous sectors, accounting for 200,000 fatal injuries per year, which represents 63 per cent of all fatal occupational injuries. In particular, one-in-three fatal occupational injuries worldwide occur among agricultural workers, the report says.
