TEHRAN – The health ministry has strengthened measures to promote the safety and health of workers in workplaces, especially during the recent war with the US-Israeli coalition.

Following the beginning of the war, on February 28, some industrial infrastructures across the country were destroyed, with some being targeted deliberately, ISNA quoted Mohsen Farhadi, an official with the health ministry, as saying. 

The official made the remarks on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2026, which is observed annually on April 28. 

Putting this year’s theme, ‘let’s ensure a healthy psychological working environment’, into practice, the health ministry did not stop workplace safety inspections during the 40-day war, but intensified them to ensure mental and physical health of the workforce, identify high-risk places, and prevent possible threats on time, the official noted. 

The current conditions of the country, the war, and the economic stress have led to increased mental and psychological tensions. To address these challenges, experts affiliated with the health ministry are and will be dispatched to the industrial units to provide guidance and essential training to help employers and staff reduce workplace stress, and create a positive environment at work, he added.

Referring to work-related sources of stress, Farhadi said apart from financial problems, dissatisfaction with the shift work is associated with increased stress levels. He also highlighted other influential factors like physical and psychological health of the staff, which are checked before and after their employment, and environmental factors such as lighting and noise.

The official went on to say that the ministries of health and labor are the two main organizations that are responsible for managing the safety of workers and employers at workplaces, and that the two ministries have signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct prevention and minimize accidents at work.

World Day for Safety and Health at Work

The annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work promotes the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. 

It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on the magnitude of the problem and on how promoting and creating a safety and health culture can help reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.

The psychosocial working environment is defined by how work is designed, organized and managed, and the organizational practices that shape everyday working conditions. Psychosocial factors – such as workload and working time, role clarity, autonomy, support, and fair and transparent processes – strongly influence how work is experienced and affect workers’ safety, health and performance.  When psychosocial factors harm workers, they become hazards which, alongside physical, chemical and biological types, must be addressed and managed to ensure safe and healthy working environments. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) marks the day with a global report that takes an organizational, prevention-focused approach and looks at psychosocial factors across three levels: the job, how work is managed and organized, and the broader policies, practices and procedures that govern work.

In 2003, the ILO began to observe World Day in order to stress the prevention of accidents and diseases at work, capitalizing on the ILO’s traditional strengths of tripartism and social dialogue.

This celebration is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO, as documented in the Conclusions of the International Labour Conference in June 2003. One of the main pillars of the Global Strategy is advocacy, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is a significant tool to raise awareness of how to make work safe and healthy and of the need to raise the political profile of occupational safety and health.

MT/MG