Govt. to amend occupational safety legislation

October 13, 2011, 10:36 pm

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa

The government has decided to amend the existing legislation on occupational safety. This would benefit over 8 million workers, Labour Ministry Secretary, W. J. L. U. Wijayaweera said.

Addressing the National Occupational Safety and Health Conference, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo on Thursday (13), Wijayaweera said that the existing legislation on occupational safety covers only workplaces which are defined as factories under the Factories Ordinance.

The new law will cover almost all workplaces and it will also promote self regulation.

Wijayaweera added that the amendments will empower the tripartite constituents through education, training and research for preventing all forms of work related hazards to ensure safety and health at work.

Labour and Labour Relation Minister Gamini Lokuge said that the ministry plans to grade factories, train occupational safety and health officers and give them a valid certificate to suit the job market requirements.

Lokuge said that the Labour Ministry would conduct countrywide awareness programmes for the benefit of employees and employers on preventing occupational hazards.

He pointed out that self regulation and safety culture are prevalent in most European countries but most of the Sri Lankan factories do not have safety culture except the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics, on the job accidents and illnesses annually take some two million lives and cost the global economy an estimated $1.25 trillion. Some 160 million people on this planet have work-related diseases. Meanwhile, the number of work accidents, fatal and non-fatal, is put at 270 million a year.

As ILO said this toll of accidental death and disease can be stopped if workers, employers and governments respect international safety standards.

The Cabinet has declared the second week of October each year as the ‘Safety Week’.