The development of human rights (HR) can be traced back to 4000 years to the Hammurabi Law and several religious and philosophical thinkers’ deliberations. Important milestones are the UK Bill of Rights, and US Declaration of Independence, French revolution, Prohibition of slavery laws and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNDHR. In the HR development two trends are recognized: extension of coverage towards universality and expansion of content from basic survival rights to decent quality of life rights including health and safety at work.

The ILO Constitution in 1919 first stipulated on workers' rights, which were further amplified and expanded through the 1966 UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which exclusively stipulated the workers' right to work, safety and health at work, health care and social protection. ILO Conventions No. 155 and 161 stipulated on occupational safety and health and occupational health services and the European Council’s Social Charter as revised in 1996 contains definitive provisions for right of workers to occupational health services. The WHO Global Strategy on Occupational Health for All 1996 calls the member states for provision of occupational health services for every working individual.

There is a wide implementation gap in the application of the international and national instruments,

which as such are adequate, if implemented. In spite of intensive efforts by international organizations and professional NGOs, the global situation is further declining because of the neoliberal economic policies and the global financial crises. The universality principle for provision of occupational health services has not been widely implemented. About 500 million workers of the world have access to OHS, while about 80–85% of 3.4 billion workers of the world, i.e. 2.8–3.0 billion people do not have access to OHS, including several vulnerable and high-risk groups. The vast majority of the 2.3 million fatalities caused by occupational factors annually do occur among those non-served workers.

New strategies have been launched for filling the implementation gap by the ILO/WHO Joint Committee on Occupational Health in collaboration with ICOH through Basic Occupational Health Services, BOHS, approach and through integration of OHS into primary health care thus supporting the realization of the universal right to health at work. The objective of occupational health for all still needs much international and national efforts and for example, doubling- tripling of the present numbers of occupational health physicians and nurses. A Cancun Declaration on Occupational Health Services for All is proposed to enhance the priority of occupational health on the political agenda.