300 join occupational safety, health summit

LEAST 300 safety practitioners convened for the 6th Mindanao Occupational Safety and Health (Mosh) Summit yesterday at D'Leonor Inland Resort and Adventure Park, Davao City in a bid to address the methods on how to manage work-related stress.

Hosted by the Department of Labor and Employment-Occupational Safety and Health Network (Dole-Oshnet 11), this year's summit is anchored on the theme, "Managing work-related stress for a healthier and safer workplace."

The ongoing summit aims to undrescore the importance of understanding workplace stress and its adverse implication on the health and wellbeing as it is seen to be one of the many concerns of the workers.

According to Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) Executive Director Ma Teresita S. Cucueco, work-related stress usually results when the knowledge and abilities of workers are inadequate to meet the demands of their jobs and the organizational culture of the enterprise they work in. This may result to chronic absenteeism and low performance.

She added that the two-day summit will feature discussions on Human Resource (HR) strategies to promote OSH, ergonomics, emergency response, climate change and various aspects of OSH in the mining and construction industries

and best OSH practices of notable establishments.

Plenary talks on managing psychological factors or works and how to deal with stress brought by the workplace will also be held.

"I commend Oshnet 11 for spearheading the 6th MOSH Summit. Mindanao has proven to be very active and efficient in implementing safety and health programs in various industries," Cucueco said.

Meanwhile, Labor Undersecretary Dominador R. Say said that the summit's advocacy is aligned with the thrust of President Rodrigo R. Duterte's administration to make people's lives better, safer and healthier towards to bringing back the people's trust in the government.

"Dole will do its share to achieve this overall goal for the workers and their families as well as for their employers," Say said.

Dole's basic mandates as an institution are to promote employment and human resource development to ensure the welfare and protection of the workforce. The agency also promotes stable and dynamic industrial peace as a shared responsibility of their social partners.

He bared that OSH is part of Dole's crafted eight-point agenda which is to ensure full protection of labor standards and the fundamental principles and rights at work.

"Dole is mandated to protect and respect all rights at work as a pre-condition for promoting decent work," Say noted.

Say said that the summit is significant and timely as it serves as a platform to prepare doable plans to further protect the rights of workers in the phase of the projected economic growth in Mindanao.

Mindanao is home to nearly 10 million workers, thus, Say said that they will harness Mindanao's potential to become an Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Economic hub, adding that the employment stakeholders must be vigilant for the new challenges to ensure the safety and health of the workers.

He also cited that gathering of cutting-edge OSH experts, top-caliber consultants and advocates from all over Mindanao is a perfect avenue to exchange best practices needed to further improve and strengthen OSH programs.

"I therefore urge all participants to actively engage in fruitful discussions towards emerging OSH challenges. The learning we will gain will undoubtedly help us enhance our workplace programs to consequently address the wellbeing of our workers," he said. JCR