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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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National Occupational Health and Safety Week by Batapotha I. Jayasena The Government declared the second week of October every year as the "National Occupational Health and Safety Week." The justifications of the need to improve the Health Safety and Working environment and condition can be judged by comparing the total working days lost by accidents in workplaces which were estimated to far exceed the number of days lost due to strikes and industrial disputes in Sri Lanka. The accidents causing disability for more than three days which are reportable are only taken for the above lost day. If we take the lost days of less then three days disability, which are very common in workplaces the total lost days will be very much more than what we can think of. According to the International labour Organisation (ILO) an estimated two million workers die each year as a result of occupational accidents and work related diseases. Workers suffer approximately 270 million occupational accidents and fall victims to some 160 million work related diseases. Apart from the above we account for the money spent on accident diseases which can be categorised as insured or direct costs. The loss to the enterprises of the victims and to the country amounts to billions of rupees every year. Such losses lead to four percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product being cut off. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its report 'Standards' related to activities in the area of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) 91st session 2003 emphasises that "the ILO's primary goal is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity. In this formulation of decent work in the context of ILO action, the protection of workers against work related sicknesses and injury as embodied in the preamble of the constitution of the ILO is an essential element of security and continues to be high priority for the ILO while operationally the In focus programme on Safety Health at work and the Environment (Safe Work) represents a focal point for the ILO's work in this area. Concern for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is ingrained in the very fabric of the daily activities of the Office in a large number of the areas of action under the ILO's four strategic Objectives". Above shows the importance of prevention of accident and ill-health. Can the occupational accidents and occupational diseases be prevented. Answer is yes. Simply practising prevention in a routine basis in workplaces, for which we should have the understanding, knowledge, education, skill, enthusiasm and necessity. Accidents interfere with production. They waste manpower. They spoil materials, cause disorganisation, waste time and moral of employees. To employees they bring pain and suffering to his family and tragedy. To the employer loss in numerous ways. An accident is an unplanned and uncontrolled, occurrence which interrupts the progress of the work at hand. It should be stressed that 40%-50% of the world's entire population are at risk through exposure to physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial or ergonomic hazards. With this in mind Alma-mata Declaration (1978) on primary health care stressed that the health care should be delivered, as close as possible to where people live and work. Globally about 100,000 chemicals which are responsible for health hazards are used in industries, mineral dusts like silica, asbestos, coal, cause irreversible diseases of the lung such as different types of pneumoconiosis, silicosis the most widespread occupational lung disease and has been known since the time of Hippocrates. The silicotic lung is more prone to tuberculosis and lung cancer. Though it is not curable it could be prevented. Traditionally occupational health and safety has been regarded as being relevant to industrial workers. The agricultural sector which is one of the commonest and the oldest form of work, though regarded as harmless are also prone to hazards due to extensive utilization of agrochemicals, modern techniques and equipment. Measures to ensure and impose safety health and welfare of agricultural workers are lacking. It is of equal importance that agricultural workers are made aware of the numerous hazards involved and adequate measures are taken. Accidents are caused as a result of some bodies, errors in judgement or skill. They can be prevented. What do we mean by occupational safety and health and by related words such as accidents, hazards, risks etc ? Simply "safety" is the absence of danger and occupational safety, absence of danger at work. By danger or the risk of danger we mean the degree of exposure to a hazard and by a "hazard" we mean a situation or a condition which has the potential of causing an accident. An "accident" is regarded as an unforseen event that may cause personal injury or property damage or both. Similarly occupational health is concerned with illnesses and diseases arising from work. Accident prevention is a matter of technology to provide safe premises and equipment and to device safe methods of work use of safety and protective equipment and appliances also it is a matter of education, training supervision, propaganda and other means of influencing human behaviour. The writer is former Specialist Factory Inspecting Engineer, Consultant Engineer in Safety and Health |
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