Occupational safety and health is an integral part of the public sector management, which employs about 14 lakh officials across the country, the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) has said. The apex body for PSUs has said that the public sector has structured safety departments and is better placed than others to overcome hazardous accidents.
At a national workshop on “Strategies for improving occupational safety and health in public sector enterprises” held here earlier this week, SCOPE Director-General U.D. Choubey said occupational accidents and work-related diseases cause over 2.3 million fatalities and adversely erode four per cent of the world’s gross domestic product. The conference was organised by SCOPE in association with the Directorate General, Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes, and the International Labour Organisation. It was inaugurated by D.N. Sharma, member of the National Disaster Management Authority, and was attended by senior executives working in the safety departments of PSUs. Addressing the participants, Dr. Sharma laid emphasis on evolving sustainability so that the multi-stakeholder partnership works towards the unified goal of chemical safety.
“Adherence to laws and enforcement of applicable rules and regulations are the actual drivers for robust chemical disaster management in the country,” he said.
SCOPE chairman and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited chairman and managing director R.G. Rajan said occupational safety and health measures increase productivity and performance and contribute to building a culture of safety. Corporates should draw lessons from reports of near miss incidents and analyze them to avoid future accidents, he said, while that the operating manuals on occupational safety should be updated periodically.
The Union Labour Ministry’s Principal Advisor P.P. Mitra said a converged database should be evolved to devise occupational health policy of the government.
ILO senior specialist Ravindra Peiris said the government, trade unions and employers should work together to build a culture of occupational safety and health.
SCOPE is an apex professional organisation representing the Union government's public enterprises.
It also has some State enterprises, banks and other institutions as its members.
The Standing Conference of Public Enterprises held a workshop to discuss occupational accidents and diseases
