Enhancing the health and safety of migrant workers

Migrant workers can be at high risk of exposure to workplace hazards and face additional work-related risk factors and unfavorable 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 a higher incidence of occupational injuries and work-related diseases among migrant workers, compared with non-migrant workers. However, due to lack of data, the extent of safety and health risks of migrant workers and the number of migrant workers that suffer occupational injuries and work-related diseases, in comparison to those of non-migrant workers, is not known. This means policymakers and the public have little information of these risks and their results to take action to prevent them.