Safety and health for migrant workers

According to the ILO global estimates, in 2017 there were 164 million migrant workers over 237 million of migrants aged 15 years and above. The large majority of migrant workers are less-skilled workers, who are more frequently exposed to decent work deficits, including poor OSH conditions, and are more likely to be in irregular status.

Resource list | 29 December 2020
Contact(s): labadmin-osh@ilo.org
Migrant workers can be at high risk of exposure to workplace hazards and face additional work-related risk factors and unfavourable social determinants of health including employment and wage discrimination, poor working and living conditions, lack of access to social protection and language and culture barriers. These work-related risks can result in higher incidence of occupational injuries and work-related diseases among migrant workers, compared with non-migrant workers.

International Labour Standards provide the protection to all workers, irrespective of migrant status, from sickness, disease and injury arising from their employment.

International labour standards

Key resources