Increase in global fatal work-related accidents and diseases

A report from the International Labour Organisation, “Global Trends and Challenges on Occupational Safety and Health”, shows that the overall number of fatal work-related accidents and diseases increased between 2003 and 2008. At the same time, the report said that while the number of fatal accidents declined from 358,000 to 321,000, the number of fatal diseases increased from 1.95 million to 2.02 million over the same period.