1694d How does a caterpillar grow its wings? how occupational hygiene can contribute to the sustainable development goals

Abstract

How can we, people working within the field of occupational hygiene and health, support the sustainable development goals? The latest figures show that 2.78 million workers continue to die each year from work-related injuries and illnesses. Especially when we realise ourselves that 2.4 million of these deaths can be attributed to work-related diseases alone. With this information in our minds we have to support the SDG in order to achieve a, healthy sustained, inclusive economic growth for everybody in the future. The first important step is to consider what is the desired effect we want and which strings do we have to pull for this desired effect. In this presentation we will look for information which can help us to decide which choices we have and what the mechanisms might be that sort the best effect. The second question to be answered is how should we approach the problems we have to solve? It is clear that to achieve the 17 intertwined Sustainable Development Goals before 2030 we will need ‘all hands on deck’ and we have to get in to motion. So how can the diversity of our backgrounds drive the innovation for new ideas, perspectives and solutions. This presentation will focus on the idea that we need to change to achieve these goals, and that this can only happen if we can we overcome the challenges and see and share the opportunities we have in this connected world.