Book Chapter - Global situation concerning work-related injuries and diseases.

the official picture Work related injuries and diseases come in many different forms and are often difficult to record, because other causal or risk factors than work are also involved. A worker injured by machinery inside a factory will clearly be classified as an occupational injury, but what if the worker was injured in a car crash driving between two worksites during working hours? It is likely that this will be classified as a traffic injury rather than as an occupational injury. Similarly, if an insulation worker who smokes develops lung cancer or other respiratory disease that could be caused by asbestos, it is unlikely to be classified as an occupational disease in many countries. The smoking will usually be considered as “the cause” of the lung cancer, even if the asbestos exposure was a major causal factor. Establishing a link between occupation and injuries and diseases is a question of awareness and attitude of the diagnosing medical practitioner, and also relates to the quality of recorded data on occupational exposure and health effects records. These examples highlight some of the reasons why official statistics on mortality and morbidity........