Occupational Health Groups Call on WHO to Restore Workplace Safety Programs

Regulators to implement federal rules restricting silica dust exposure after the 1930s. The WHO in partnership with the International Labour Organization established the Global Programme for the Elimination of Silicosis in 1995. The Global Occupational Safety and Health (GOSH) coalition said in a position paper last year that the WHO is ignoring occupational health and safety just as climate change, emerging pandemics and migration expose workers to new risks.

Emanuele Cauda, a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh focused on occupational hygiene and a member of the GOSH coalition, said the issue demands attention. “We’re trying to raise awareness of the fact that leaving out occupational and safety protection for the workers is going to be a public health issue globally,” Cauda said.

The WHO has not made worker health one of its core priorities.

The person responsible for the WHO occupational health program retired in 2025 and was not replaced, Thomas Gassert said. The WHO lost half of its 10 divisions, Gassert added.

Chan School of Public Health and a core member of the GOSH coalition. The last time the joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health met was in 2003, Gassert said. President Donald Trump announced his intention to leave the WHO on the first day of his second term.

He cited “unfairly onerous payments” as a reason for leaving the WHO. The Trump administration terminated its financial support to the WHO last year. The United States was the WHO’s biggest government donor, contributing around 18 percent of its overall funding, Nick Pahl said.

Nick Pahl is CEO of the United Kingdom’s Society of Occupational Medicine and a GOSH member. The WHO’s 2026-2027 budget has a $700 million decrease in core program funding. “Occupational health was part of their program priorities in 2024-25, but it’s not appearing now,” Pahl said.

The number of people who are dying at work is increasing beyond population growth, Pahl added. Illnesses, injuries and deaths caused by failing to protect workers costs the equivalent of nearly 6 percent of the world’s GDP, or up to $3 trillion annually, according to a GOSH coalition letter.

Marianne Levitsky, the founding president and now board member of Workplace Health Without Borders who convened the GOSH coalition, said the gap must be closed.

“There’s not enough attention paid to occupational health in the global-health agenda,” Levitsky said. ” she said. Inside Climate News reported that GOSH members are urging the next WHO director-general to reinstate occupational health as a program unit, revive collaboration with the ILO and fund collaborating centers that support worker protection programs.

They note that risks are rising as climate change continues to impact workplaces through heat extremes, air pollution, infectious diseases and other challenges.