Many workplace accidents are going unreported, according to union leaders.
Research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) showed that around 1.2 million people suffer from work-related illnesses, while more than 20,000 are being killed prematurely by their occupation each year.
The TUC added that it wants a health and safety tsar appointed to help prevent workers dying from exposure to fumes, asbestos and road accidents.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said: "Despite the way that health and safety is often pilloried, for those who are made ill or injured at work and for the relatives of those who have died as a result of their work, health and safety is no joke."
He went on to say that regulation works, and as long as it is enforced then it will prevent the contraction of unnecessary illnesses.
Furthermore, the Health and Safety Executive believes that 246,000 workplace injuries should have been reported but were not last year.