National Safety Awards for businesses in October

Sri Lanka has stringent laws to ensure occupational safety and the health of the working population in this country and to further this cause the Government in 2009 established the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations.

Since the establishment of the NIOSH in addition to achieving its desired purpose, it also commenced conducting training courses leading to the Diploma and Advanced Certificate and for the first time the NIOSH is holding the ‘National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Awards 2014 (NOSHEA) on October 20, 2014.

In the backdrop of this inaugural Excellence Awards, the Business Times, this week met Dr. (Ms) Champika Amarasinghe, Director General (Occupational Health Physician) NIOSH, to know about the extent of progress NIOSH has made and the need for such an institution as there are enough laws, if properly implemented to curtail industrial or occupational accidents and ensure the health at workplaces.

Dr. Amarasinghe said training is one of the best ways to make the concerned parties aware of the exact measures to be adopted – which is common to the employees as well as the employers. Their exercise is to put in place mechanisms to educate, train and monitor workplace safety without which the task would be next to impossible. The mechanism is somewhat in place now. The training course covers ergonomic training, stress relief, stress management, chemical safety and handling advanced training in plantation sector, safety officer training, construction safety and health training. She said that about one third of the population amounting to eight million comprise the workforce of the country, out of which around 65 per cent are in the small and medium scale industries. This large sector is possibly ignorant of safety measures. She said that though they are poised to ensure these safety measures, there are other constraints as the entire process involves other inter-related services while another obstacle is the lack of information that makes matters serious in gauging the actual gravity of the situation in the absence of accurate information on occupational injuries, etc. This may be due to improper surveillance and reporting system. The annual reported cases, she said is in the range of 1,750 to 2,000 accidents. Dr. Amarasinghe said that Workman’s Compensation Ordinance of 1942 provides for any person affected by occupational injuries to be eligible for compensation and when workers are aware of these provisions they tend to make use of these legal provisions. So the training and awareness programmes come handy.

The second week of October each year is declared the National Safety Week in Sri Lanka and to coincide with this Safety Week they would be conducting NOSHEA 2014, she said. NIOSH, she said extends partnerships with multinational and national industry, employer and employee organisations, international agencies, scientists and professional communities. She said that they would also advise the Government in the formulation of a national policy on Occupational Safety and Health and on the working environment both of employers and employees. It also advises the Government on measures required for the prevention of accidents and injuries related to workplace, Dr. Amarasinghe said.

She said that the lack of prop- er and accurate information specially the 65 per cent block involved in small and medium scale industries handicaps their activities as there are accidents in workplaces that do occur. However to capture and punish the perpetrators is another aspect for there is a mechanism in place in the Labour Department to enforce the Factories Ordinance.

There are about 30 engineers attached to Labour Department inspecting factories around the country, she said but pointed out that with the rapid expansion of industries in the country, this number is barely sufficient.

She told the Business Times that taken together, they have a gigantic task and to fulfill the desired purpose it has to be a coordinated and concerted effort by all the agencies involved in this task. Even though the results and achievements of their activities could not be found conclusively, the training programmes, awareness programmes and the Excellence Awards would help to bring in rich results.

She said that with regard to occupational safety and health in the workplace, they are ready to provide advice free of charge.