What is Seoul Declaration?

The Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work reaffirms these principles. Building and maintaining a national preventative culture must therefore be high on everybody’s agendas. Governments, employers' and workers' organizations, multinational companies, social security institutions, occupational safety and health bodies and NGOs have declared their support to the principles enshrined in the Seoul Declaration.

The Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work was adopted by the Safety and Health Summit on 29 June 2008 on the occasion of the XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work.

The Congress was organized jointly by the SafeWork Programme of the International Labour Office(ILO), the International Social Security Association(ISSA), and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency(KOSHA).

The Declaration calls for a preventative safety and health culture, which gives the right to a safe and healthy environment and which is respected at all national levels. The signatories of the Seoul Declaration commit to actively participate in the securing of a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and duties, where the principle of prevention is accorded the highest priority.

The Seoul Declaration also recognizes that safety and health at work is a fundamental human right as stipulated in Art 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Together with the many supporters of the Seoul Declaration, ILO, ISSA and KOSHA have committed themselves to promote this preventative safety and health culture worldwide. A series of forums and meetings on safety and health at work have taken place and continue to take place around the globe to promote cooperation and sharing in order to carry out a common vision of creating a safe and healthy working environment as a basic means for the development of individuals, business and society.

Seoul Declaration