Social systems are in place for worker protection and for worker participation in decisions relating to their work environments. Yet, despite tireless efforts to promote better working conditions, the ILO and others must still combat many forms of exploitation of working people, such as child labour, indentured servitude and clandestine work, with their inevitably hazardous and oppressive conditions. Tens of millions of others labour while exposed to chemical, physical and social hazards which drain their health and their spirits. Solutions do not arise simply from issuing publications or obtaining advice from experts. The health and well-being of workers is an issue of social justice and the ILO stands above all for the ideal of promoting social justice in the world.
Ultimately solutions are social as much as technical.
It is not merely the lack of know-how that perpetuates the toll of death, disability and disease in the working population, it is the lack of the social means and the social will to do something about it. The societal basis for occupational safety and health is perhaps the most important reason for the ILO to publish the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety . The Encyclopaedia's popularity and influence have been enormous. Tens of thousands of copies have been in use throughout the greater part of this century. Earlier editions have been published in Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Hungarian and Serbo-Croatian.