This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
A new report by the International Labor Organization says abouttwo-million people a year die from accidents and diseases linked totheir jobs. That is more than five-thousand people every day. Thevictims include twelve-thousand children killed each year at work.The labor agency estimates that job-related injuries, diseases anddeaths cost the world economy more than one-million-million dollarsa year.
The International LaborOrganization is part of the United Nations.
The report estimates that each year abouttwo-hundred-seventy-million people suffer accidents on the job.Also, about one-hundred-sixty million cases of work-related sicknessare reported. The agency says most work-related accidents anddiseases could be prevented if international safety rules werefollowed.
Jukka Takala heads the Safe Work Program for the InternationalLabor Organization. He says work-related deaths, accidents anddiseases have dropped in industrialized nations. This is becausebetter prevention efforts and emergency services are in place. Inaddition, Mister Takala says many of the most dangerous jobs havebeen exported from industrialized nations to developing countries.
The riskiest jobs in poor nations are in leading industries likefarming, fishing and mining. The International Labor Organizationsays a lack of safety training and poor reading skills lead to highdeath rates. Many workers die from fires or from being arounddangerous materials. Chemicals and other harmful substances killthree-hundred-forty-thousand workers a year.
Mister Takala says the causes of job-related deaths differ aroundthe world. In Southeast Asia and China, for example, accidents arethe biggest cause of death. In southern Africa and India, however, abig cause of work-related deaths are diseases caused in many casesby dirty conditions and spread from one worker to another.
Internationally, almost one-third of all work-related deaths arecaused by cancer. Mister Takala says most of these cases are inindustrialized nations. The causes include chemicals and dangeroussubstances like asbestos and even cigarette smoke in the workplace.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.