World Day for safety and health at work

The World Day for Safety and Health at Work will be held today and the theme chosen by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is My Life, My Work, My Safe Work - Managing Risks In The Work Environment.

It particularly aims at highlighting the importance of controlling and reducing risks in workplaces to prevent work-related accidents and ill-health.

"Decent work is a basic and fundamental human right; a prerequisite for this is working in a safe and healthy environment. An annual event that commemorates those who lost their lives at work should not just be a normal date in our calendar when we make our voices heard and seek media attention.

"It should serve as a point of reflection on what is going wrong and what still needs to be done to minimise this as much as possible. It should, above all, give the impetus to everyone to move from rhetorical lip-service to real and concrete action," Social Policy Minister John Dalli said.

A recent study by the World Economic Forum and the International Labour Organisation (ILO/SafeWork), which compared the competitiveness of 31 industrial and developing countries, clearly shows that better safety and health standards equal better national productivity.

"The results indicate that a low number of fatal occupational accidents and high competitiveness are directly proportional making the most competitive economies register the lowest number of fatal accidents. Based on this study, Malta, with an average annual fatality index of 4.6, would indicate a lower competitive index than a number of EU member states, demonstrating that there is still room for improvement in this sector," Mr Dalli said.

"As a government, we have always striven for and encouraged social dialogue and participation. Indeed, our electoral motto itself encompassed this. The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) has been pivotal in bridging the gap and establishing effective networks on the matter. Indeed, in the near future, the OHSA will have further resources assigned to it to enable it to better fulfil its role in society," he added.

There has been a consistent downward trend in occupational accidents throughout the last years, particularly since the establishment of the OHSA and increased awareness and enforcement action. Nevertheless, one of the benchmarks the OHSA is setting is further reduction in the number of such accidents.

"The OHSA has recently launched a five-year strategy with a number of progressive aims, including a 25 per cent decrease in reported occupational accidents. Albeit being ambitious, we are committed towards realising this objective at all costs," Mark Gauci, the OHSA's chief executive officer said.