AI and digital tools are revolutionizing occupational safety and health. Today, robots are operating in hazardous environments, doing the heavy lifting, managing toxic materials and working in extreme temperatures. They take on repetitive and monotonous tasks, while digital devices and sensors can detect hazards early on. At the same time, in the absence of adequate OSH measures, digital technologies can lead to accidents, ergonomic risks, work intensification, reduced job control and blurred boundaries.&nbsp; On the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2025 this event brings together ILO constituents and international experts to explore how AI and digitalization are reshaping OSH systems across sectors and countries.

Geneva

Revolutionizing health and safety: The role of AI and digitalization at work 

This event is organized as part of ITU's <a href="https://aiforgood.itu.int/">AI for Good Series</a>.In this era of rapid technological change and huge political promises being loaded onto large language models (LLMs), how can we ensure that automation serves human potential rather than undermines it? Outlining findings from the ground-breaking Pissarides Review into the Future of Work and Wellbeing, Anna Thomas MBE will present an approach to technological transformation that puts human capabilities and wellbeing at the centre of innovation.Drawing on extensive research across UK firms and workers, she will outline critical insights about AI and automation's impact on work: from the hidden opportunities and inequalities emerging across regions and demographics to the urgent need for a new "Good Work" paradigm that prioritises human agency, skills, and resilience.&nbsp;Key takeaways will include:&nbsp;<ul><li>Why adopting more, new workplace technologies won’t automatically be positive for firms – or for health and wellbeing</li><li>How we can shape automation to enhance—not replace—human potential and use it to deliver a fairer future of better work</li><li>The importance of skills diversity and adaptive capabilities</li><li>Strategies for creating more equitable technological transitions</li></ul>

Good Work in the Age of AI – How can innovation and social good advance together?

AI for Good

We only have 5 years to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and AI is impacting people and the planet. We are the AI generation, and it is our responsibility to ensure that no one is left behind.AI for Good is identifying trustworthy AI applications, building skills and standards, and advancing AI governance for sustainable development.AI for Good is organized by ITU in partnership with over 40 UN Sister Agencies and co-convened with the Government of Switzerland.

Launched in 2016, the ILO’s Global Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All (SPF Flagship Programme) supports ILO member States in developing sustainable social protection systems, including floors, and contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on social protection (in particular targets 1.3 and 3.8), through a coherent structure to mobilize resources and achieve impact.The SPF Flagship Programme works in 50 priority countries, aiming to achieve 80 institutional changes and increase legal and effective coverage for an additional 60 million people. Between 2021 and 2024, the Programme contributed already to 148 institutional changes (such as the adoption of laws and the implementation of systems) in 50 priority countries and increased legal and effective coverage for over 50 million people.&nbsp;Objectives of the meeting: - Take stock of the progress made, results achieved, and impact created since the beginning of Phase II of the SPF Flagship Programme, including through the multi-donor programme. - Share country and partner experiences in extending social protection to all, look at current and future challenges and opportunities, with a focus on key thematic areas. - Join forces to accelerate the achievement of Universal Social Protection, through building strong social protection systems and positioning social protection as a key tool for creating just and equitable societies. - Identify key priorities for Phase III of the SPF Flagship Programme.

Development partners meeting of the ILO Flagship Programme on Social Protection Floors

This year, the ILO will mark International Women’s Day by celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action with a special event reflecting on three decades of progress, challenges, and the future of women in the world of work.&nbsp;Through engaging discussions, shared experiences, and expert insights, the event will emphasize a powerful message: All women are working women.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Empowering women in the economy across generations

World Day of Social Justice takes place every year on 20 February. It was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2007 to remind us of the need to build a fairer and more equitable world and to urge all efforts to combat unemployment and poverty.&nbsp;&nbsp;The ILO will mark the occasion this year with a series of five events held in major cities around the globe. The events will bring together high-level speakers from across the world of work to discuss how to put social justice at the centre of international, national and regional policy agendas.&nbsp;

World Day of Social Justice 2025

This event is organized as part of ITU's <a href="https://aiforgood.itu.int/">AI for Good Series</a>.AI technologies have captured the public imagination and raised substantial fears. Many of these fears concern automation as some commentators claim that the large-scale elimination of jobs is imminent. This talk will try to put AI into some context about the things it does and how technologies have operated in the past. As in the past, new technologies such as AI don’t just automate, they also change organizations, the worker skills needed, and they have strong effects on consumers. Automation rarely replaces entire jobs; it typically just automates specific tasks. And when this happens, the remaining tasks – the ones that humans perform – become more valuable and often require new and deeper skills. Moreover, consumer benefits often raise demand dramatically as prices fall and quality improves. Greater demand often increases&nbsp;employment, rather than eliminating it. The talk will look at the long-term consequences of these changes and what the main social challenges are raised by this new technology.

James Bessen, Boston U.: What will AI do to our work?

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How to achieve social justice for all?

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How to achieve social justice in the world of work

Can artificial intelligence, robots and surveillance protect workers on the job? In this episode of the Future of Work podcast, ILO occupational safety and health expert Manal Azzi explains how AI and technology can be used as a safety net, without deepening inequalities or creating new risks.

How AI, robots and other technologies can keep workers safe and sound

As part of a <a href="https://www.ilo.org/meetings-and-events/fair-recruitment-initiative-way-forward-policy-practice">two day Conference with the partners of the ILO Fair Recruitment Initiative</a>, this high-level panel will bring together distinguished speakers to explore the link between fair recruitment and social justice, offering insights on advancing fair recruitment in an increasingly complex global context. (Interpretation provided in Arabic, French, English, Spanish)

High level panel - Fair Recruitment Initiative: The way forward from policy to practice

Access to Protection and Legal RightsThis plenary explores how labour regulation can be made more impactful and inclusive, reaching those it too often leaves behind. We are delighted to welcome three leading voices in the field: Professor Guy Davidov, Professor Kamala Sankaran (member of the ILO Committee of Experts), and Professor Adelle Blackett (Senior Advisor to the ILO Director-General), who will serve as discussant. Professor Davidov will examine how new technologies are reshaping the reach and effectiveness of labour protections—sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Professor Sankaran will draw attention to the many workers still excluded from the scope of labour law, whether by legal design or lack of enforcement.Can AI improve the enforcement of labour laws? - Guy DavidovEmployers around the world increasingly rely on algorithmic management, including by incorporating artificial intelligence capabilities. The risks to privacy, equality, and workers’ bargaining power are already well-documented. Additional risks associated with AI more generally make its regulation apparent and urgent. Notwithstanding these dangers, these new technological advancements can also be used for the benefit of workers, if adopted by the state as part of efforts to improve the enforcement of labour laws. Prof. Davidov will discuss three different ways in which this can be done. First, the use of AI by enforcement agencies; second, using AI as part of court-based online dispute resolution; and third, relying on AI to determine the default state of the law, shifting the burden to the employer to contest it. He will also briefly consider the risks associated with any reliance on AI, including by the state, and what can be done to minimize them in the current context.Regulating for Decent Work: How do we protect and sustain livelihoods? - Kamala SankaranMany workers today are not in ‘jobs’ or in employment relationships. Instead, they are owner-operators of own-account enterprises or small and marginal farmers lacking the capacity to scale up, or are (unpaid) family contributing workers, or are trafficked and are engaged in forced labour. Does labour law have the capacity to regulate such forms of work? Could contributing family members be treated as workers? Should small and marginal farmers be treated as employers or workers? How can the law provide for equitable access to land, urban spaces, natural resources, the market and credit, critical for sustaining such forms of employment and livelihood? Prof. Sankaran argues that labour regulation could draw upon other normative frameworks as well as ILO’s international labour standards that address matters of development, migration, transitions, labour rights and social protection, to work towards&nbsp; regulatory frameworks for decent work and livelihoods that are more inclusive and socially just.

Plenary Session: Access to Protection and Legal Rights

The ILO's largest interdisciplinary and international forum for labour regulation research- proposing transformative policies and innovative solutions.Visit the official website of the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/rdw2025">9th Regulating for Decent Work Conference</a>

9th Regulating for Decent Work Conference

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