ICOH celebrates its 120th anniversary
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the First International Congress on Occupational Diseases and the foundation of ICOH, on 13th June.
We are honoured and proud to celebrate this important milestone with our members.
ICOH was founded in Milan, Italy, in 1906 in connection with the celebration of the First International Congress on Occupational Diseases from 9th to 14th June 1906.
At the end of the works of the First Congress, on 13th June, ICOH was founded, with the name ‘Commission Internationale Permanente pour l′Étude des Maladies du Travail’ (‘Permanent International Commission for the Study of Occupational Diseases’). The Italian hygienist medical doctor Malachia De Cristoforis, the convenor of the First International Congress on Occupational Diseases, was the founder and first President of the International Commission. The foundation of the Commission made it possible to build up on the outcomes of the First Congress and give continuity and further impulse to that first experience of an international forum for scientific and professional exchange in occupational health.
Since then, ICOH has grown to become the world’s largest professional and scientific association of occupational health professionals, with around 2000 members in more than 110 countries.
Over 100 years after its foundation, with unchanged commitment and dedication, ICOH continues to carry out its mission of protecting workers’ health through the promotion of research, information, education, training, and good practices in occupational health worldwide.
To celebrate this important anniversary, we invited current and past officers, board members, national secretaries, scientific committee chairs and ten ordinary members drawn by lot, as well as representatives of ICOH sister organisations and of the international organisations with which ICOH enjoys formal working relations, to send a short greeting message to share their experience within ICOH, memories from the past or good wishes for the future.
The following is the collection of the messages received which, altogether, remark a strong connection to ICOH heritage alongside a strong, continuing commitment to creating healthier and safer workplaces and shaping the future of occupational health for the benefit of the global working population.
We would like to thank all our members for being part of the ICOH community and for contributing to the advancement of occupational health worldwide.
