When work hurts: Rx for job safety
İÇİNDEKİLERCONTENTS - Listening to our pain PREVENTING WORKPLACE INJURIES AND ILLNESSES THROUGH ERGONOMICS For many people, work means pain: eye strain, back pain, trauma, strains and repetitive motion injuries. Ergonomics focuses on the prevention of such injuries through the proper design of equipment, workstations, products and working methods, according to peoples' capabilities and limitations. What is ergonomics, how does it work and what is the ILO doing about it? - No more "Hang ups1 and "Widow-makers" NEW FOREST CODE AIMS TO PROTECT LOGGERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT Forest work is a dangerous business. Every year, thousands of forest workers die or are maimed due to unsafe practices and the danger of working with huge, falling trees. In addition, unsafe forestry also has an environmental impact, causing more damage than necessary to trees that survive the loggers' chain saws. A Code of Practice on forest safety marks a new departure. - Half light in the Norwegian Arctic MAKING THE ILO CONVENTION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WORK: SAAMI PEOPLE SEEK THEIR DUE The Saami people living in Norway's arctic regions are reluctant to trap themselves in folkloric stereotypes, such as reindeer herders. Eager to build a new society, Saami leaders are focusing their attention on gaining meaningful influence over the wealth of their traditional lands and waters. One tool available to them has been ILO Convention No. 169. Journalist Jo-Anne Velin explains how the Saami are using this as a political tool. - An analysis of independent work in Quebec SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS CALL FOR THE SAME SOCIAL PROTECTION AS WAGE EARNERS Last May the government of Quebec (Canada) published an Analysis of independent work, the first exhaustive study on independent work in Quebec. This document was followed up by a day of debate during which self-employed workers proposed that all workers, regardless of their status, should enjoy the same social protection. This was a first in the short history of the resurgence of independent work in Quebec. - The ILO Economic Brief "SOCIAL FINANCE" IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD As globalization continues to increase, so does the amount of money being pushed around the globe. Yet, while hundreds of billions of dollars surge electronically across national boundaries each day, more than one billion of the world's destitute still eke out daily subsistence on less than US$ 1. In an effort to address this anomaly, the ILO has created a "Social Finance Unit". This brief explains how the ILO Social Finance Unit is helping globalization's "have-nots" gain access to financial services. - Special Report: 85th International Labour Conference CONFERENCE DISCUSSES LABOUR RIGHTS, CONTRACT WORKERS, SMEs The 85'h International Labour Conference was marked by extensive discussions on a set of innovative proposals submitted to it by the Director-General of the ILO. The Conference also adopted a new international Convention on private employment agencies designed to increase the efficiency of labour markets and protect job-seekers using their services. Committee on Application of Standards cites labour abuses in Iran, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Swaziland Voices from the podium: The sound and the fury - The fight against poverty: Not all is lost It seems that not all is lost in the fight against poverty. While the success of east and south-east Asian countries and also of some South Asian countries in alleviating poverty is quite well known, a careful look at data from countries of Latin America and Africa may offer at least some glimmer of hope. News Section Most intolerable forms of child labour targeted at the Cartagena Meeting Report: Social labelling and child labour: further examination needed National Conference on Enterprise Development and Job Creation in Russia Russian wage arrears reach astronomical proportions Meeting of Experts to redefine purpose of workers' health surveillance International Leadership Forum for Women with Disabilities held Role of trade unions in the fight against child labour in Asia - The ILO and the World Wide Web NEW PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNET USE AT THE ILO: CAN THE INTERNET CHANGE HOW ORGANIZATIONS WORK? With the generalization of the use of information and communication technologies, much has been said about their impact on organizational structures and ways of working. At the ILO, choices made in setting up and running the Organization's Internet site may well have some impact on future ways of working within the Office. Features THE ILO IN HISTORY How the late summer of 1897 saw the birth of an idea that is the ILO today. AROUND THE CONTINENTS Fighting child labour: Fund raising in Italy Child labour: Finding "best practices" Pension reform Promoting ILO standards in Latin America Employment and sustainable livelihood ' The 1996 performance of the multi-bilateral programme Twelfth Asian Regional Meeting in Bangkok WORKING WORLD: A quarterly review of trends in unemployment, labour agreements, social security and pensions, other milestones MEDIA FOCUS, THE ILO IN THE PRESS MEDIA SHELF Created in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) brings together governments, employers and workers of its 174 member States in common action to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. The International Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanent Secretariat of the Organization.  |
