Business As Usual? World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2026

World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2026 explores safe and healthy working environments as an essential principle and a legal right.

Observed each year on 28th April, the day helps to raise awareness around the prevention of accidents at work and ill health globally.

Read on as we discuss this year’s theme and detail a case study from a Gildeas client who sustained a life-changing injury at work.

Why do we have a World Day for Safety and Health at Work?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) started the initiative in 2003 to promote safe and healthy work across the world. Every year, they highlight how creating and upkeeping a strong health & safety culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.

And the statistics are shocking:

• Globally, 2.93 million workers die each year as a result of work-related factors*
• 395 million workers sustain a non-fatal injury at work every year
• In the UK, 40.1 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and injury**
• And 964,000 people reported suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety

This year’s theme for World Day for Safety and Health at Work is on ensuring a healthy psychosocial environment. A psychosocial environment is another way to refer to your everyday working conditions – for example organisational practices, and how your work is designed and managed. This could be things like your working hours, workloads, amount of support, and if your work has fair and transparent processes.

All of these factors strongly influence how employees experience work, affecting their safety, health and performance.

Some examples of common issues affecting workers:

• Long working hours with no breaks
• Lack of communication and transparency at work, leading to job insecurity or doubt over job roles
• Broader work culture – policies such as monitoring and supervision, lack of procedures to prevent workplace bullying and harassment, or performance & reward processes
• Excessive workloads – high demands, little access to resources, expectations or work pace. This leads to stress causing ill health, cardiovascular diseases, and poor mental health

Psychosocial risks arise from these factors.

How Gildeas Solicitors can help

Gildeas frequently represent clients who have sustained life-changing injuries as a result of accidents at work.

In 2022, Gildeas settled a case on behalf of a client who was employed at an abattoir as a hygiene and line operative. As a result of poor training policies and defective emergency stop buttons on the line, our client suffered a 2cm incision from an accident with a knife. The wound left scarring and psychological symptoms.

Two years later, we represented a separate client employed as a butcher at the same abattoir. Due to poor risk management procedures and a lack of PPE, our client was left with severe lacerations, swelling and bruising which left permanent scarring after he was kicked in the face by a cow.

In both cases, our clients were unable to return to work. Gildeas Director and certified personal injury specialist, Emma Thomson assisted both men and recovered significant provision for their loss of earnings and rehabilitation needs.

World Day for Health and Safety aims to prevent accidents like this by identifying and mitigating risks early. By raising awareness, we hope workplaces can reflect on the importance of safe and healthy working environments, and how we continue to evolve our practices to protect employees.

How do I know if I can claim for an accident at work?

You should take advice from your solicitor. A good solicitor can inform you if your accident circumstances mean you’re eligible to make claim.

Our  team deal with hundreds of individuals and businesses alike in accident at work claims.

So, if any of the above sounds familiar to you and you need some help, please contact our specialist personal injury lawyers today.

If you or a loved one is suffering, don’t hesitate to ask for support.

 

* Figures from International Labour Organisation, 2023

** Figures from Health & Safety Executive, 2024 – 2025

 

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