Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

IntroductionHIV/AIDS is having a major adverse impact upon both agricultural workers and small farmers,resulting in major health burdens on communities and countries and shortage of labour in manyareas. Another consequence of HIV/AIDS, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, means that thereare many child-headed households. Unfortunately, many of these children are obliged tobecome agricultural labourers, often carrying out hazardous work. The importance of HS&E in agriculture:decent work in agricultureThe agricultural sector employs half of the world’s labour force and is one of the three mosthazardous sectors of activity (along with mining and construction), in both industrialised anddeveloping countries.According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO): huge numbers of agricultural workers and farmers are killed worldwide every year. In 2002,the International Labour Organisation ILO) estimated that 355,000 fatal accidents takeplace every year. Previous ILO estimates suggest that over half these fatal accidents takeplace in agricultureagricultural mortality rates have remained consistently high in the last decade as comparedwith other sectors, where fatal accident rates have decreasedmillions of people working in agriculture are seriously injured in workplace accidents withagricultural machinery or poisoned by pesticides and other agrochemicalsmany millions more suffer ill-health as result of their workbecause of widespread under-reporting of deaths, injuries and occupational diseases inagriculture, the real picture of the occupational health and safety of waged agriculturalworkers is likely to be worse than the official statistics indicateIn addition, the agricultural workplace has a major impact upon: public health and food quality/safety the general environment, for example, the quality of soils (potential for soil erosion), waterquality (often many kilometres away from the farm or plantation), air pollution (includingsmells), trans-boundary pollution, noise, potential to cause climate change, and destructionof the ozone layerAlthough many categories of the agricultural working population are at risk, one of the mostvulnerable categories is waged agricultural workers, who often have little control over theirworking conditions. Furthermore, they are a category which in many countries has beenexcluded from participation in policy and decision-making on HS&E. The right to select/electworker HS&E representatives is often not part of national law. Even where worker HS&Erepresentatives are allowed by law, they often cannot function because of lack of training,information and technical support.Conditions vary greatly from country to country. But, in most countries, national legislation,employment injury benefits or insurance schemes only cover some categories of agriculturalworkers. A large number of agricultural workers are thus deprived of any form of socialprotection.4 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers