The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), in partnership with FETRACONSPAR, and with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and GS Facket (Sweden), held the hybrid Launch Event of the Portuguese translation of the ILO Code of Practice on Occupational Safety and Health in Forestry (revised edition) on 27 January 2026 in Matinhos (Paraná). The event marked a historic milestone for Brazil, affirming the right of forestry workers to a safe and healthy working environment and explicitly calling for a national pact to ensure this right across the entire timber value chain.

Adopted at the ILO Tripartite Meeting of Experts (Geneva, 13–17 May 2024) and approved by the ILO Governing Body (352nd Session, November 2024), the revised Code is the first sectoral code issued after the 2022 recognition of a safe and healthy working environment as a Fundamental Principle and Right at Work. Replacing the 1998 version, it responds directly to Brazilian and global sectoral realities, including outsourcing, fragmented value chains, new technologies, climate change, evolving forms of work organization, and the growing relevance of psychosocial risks. As stressed by Nilton Freitas, BWI Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, the Code makes clear that safety and health are not benefits but fundamental rights that must reach all stages of forestry work, from nurseries and silviculture to transport and firefighting.

The Code was presented as a concrete, tripartite guide to reduce fatalities and illness while strengthening social dialogue in Brazil. It reinforces employers’ and contractors’ responsibilities, risk-based prevention, accident and disease reporting to combat chronic underreporting, and the recognition of psychosocial risks linked to decent-work deficits. For Vinicius Pinheiro, Director of the ILO Office in Brazil, its relevance lies in national ownership: the Code is a practical tool whose effectiveness depends on training, commitment, and coordinated action by governments, companies, and workers.

The choice of Paraná as the launch platform during the 34th FETRACONSPAR Seminar of Trade Union Leaders highlighted Paraná’s importance in the Brazilian timber sector. Reinaldim Barboza, President of FETRACONSPAR, emphasised that there can be no economically sustainable production chain without safe labour practices. The debate brought together Brazilian implementation actors, including the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MTE), FUNDACENTRO, and Ibá – Brazilian Tree Industry, alongside international contributions from GS Facket.

In the closing session, Carolina Dantas, BWI Climate and Forestry Officer, outlined a Brazil-focused roadmap to move “from paper to practice”, prioritising nationwide dissemination, printed materials, OSH training for workers, unions, companies, CIPAA members and labour inspectors, regulatory alignment, and the use of the Code in collective bargaining, certification schemes and public policies, while strengthening governance and mechanisms to address workers’ complaints.