A person dies every three and a half minutes as a result of work injuries in the European Union. Every four and a half seconds, a worker is injured and needs to stay home for at least three working days. The number of accidents at work causing three or more days of absence amounts to over seven million every year. (Source: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work)
The European Agency's Safety and Health at Work campaign entitled 'Healthy workplaces - good for you, good for business' was launched in Malta last week. The campaign, which focuses on risk assessment at the workplace, will run over two years, culminating in two 'European Weeks' this October and next.
Social Policy Minister John Dalli said this initiative, aimed at increasing awareness on risk assessments, was part of the government's strategy to make the work environment a better place. Therefore, the campaign slogan should be the mentality of employer and employee.
Mr Dalli went on to say that the safer and healthier the workplace, the more productive the business is and concluded that investing in health and safety measures will benefit both the worker and employer.
Mark Gauci, CEO of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), said risk assessment was one of the pillars of systematic occupational health and safety management.
"Occupational accidents can be reduced significantly by carrying out a risk assessment and adopting safe work systems that are generally inexpensive to implement. When a risk assessment is not undertaken properly, the appropriate preventive measures are unlikely to be in place," Dr Gauci said.
"Although the latest statistics indicate that there has been a reduction in the number of occupational accidents, these are still too high for comfort. Each accident, far from being just a statistical figure, carries social, economic and financial costs, some of which are not immediately apparent. This encourages ignorance and helps create a culture of complacency."
Many employers wrongly believe that insurance covers all expenses. In reality, many policies do not cover losses, such as reduced production, replacement labour and legal fees. Smaller firms usually suffer a higher impact, since they are often operating on tight margins. They may not have experienced many accidents or cases of ill health, but when they do, these can often have a disproportionate impact on the business and insurance policies may not cover the bill.
One simple way to curb accidents is to carry out a risk assessment. This exercise is a careful analysis of what could injure or harm people in a way that the employer can determine whether enough precautions have been taken and what else should be done to improve the situation.
Employers are legally expected to carry out such risk assessments, to update them regularly and to present them to occupational health and safety officers during inspection.
"The OHSA is working in close collaboration with various entities and social partners to ensure that the message gets across. I would like to invite all those who deal with young people to get involved in this campaign," Dr Gauci said.
The Malta Focal Point of the European agency within the OHSA will be organising three seminars in the first part of this campaign. The first will target stakeholders to better explain the campaign and form partnerships.
Another will target employers and focus on OHS and competitiveness, and the third, aimed at unions and health and safety representatives, will focus on consultation and participation of workers in OHS matters.
More information is available at http://hw.osha.europa.eu. The OHSA has also launched its Good Practice Awards scheme.
All those interested may submit their nominations. In line with the European theme, the awards this year will focus on risk assessment. The closing date is September 1. Application forms are also available from the authority in Pietà. For more information call 2124 7677/8 or e-mail ohsa.communi cations@gov.mt.