Shattered work: Recommitting for health and safety at work globally

Background In this commentary, we argue that while efforts to prevent and rehabilitate people at work have made substantial progress, existing evidence and best practices remain limited to a small proportion of the contemporary workforce. Objective We call all scholars and practitioners in the field to recommit to health and safety at work from a global perspective. Methods Using secondary data from global and public health investigations. Results We describe how existing perspectives are limited only to formally registered workplaces from Western countries, while issues around the prevalence of labor exploitation, slavery, human trafficking, and child labor remain underrepresented in mainstream occupational health research and policy. Conclusions Constructively, we confront this selective approach to recommit to health and safety at work globally.