New global indicator for workers' health: mortality rate from diseases attributable to selected occupational risk factors.

Through sustainable development goals 3 and 8 and other policies, countries have committed to protect and promote workers' health by reducing the work-related burden of disease. To monitor progress on these commitments, indicators that capture the work-related burden of disease should be available for monitoring workers' health and sustainable development. The World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization estimate that only 363 283 (19%) of 1 879 890 work-related deaths globally in 2016 were due to injuries, whereas 1 516 607 (81%) deaths were due to diseases.

Asbestos in the non-mining industry on the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Background And Introduction: For many decades, and until fairly recently, asbestos was commonly found in most sectors of South African industry. Consequently there is a large but indeterminate pool of formerly exposed workers, some of whom will present to medical practitioners for evaluation of possible asbestosis, the pneumoconiosis caused by the fibre. Fundamental to the diagnosis of asbestosis is a history of asbestos exposure sufficient to cause the disease.