Empowering workers through occupational health and safety training, the east mediterrenean status

Empowering Workers through Occupational Health & and Safety Training:

The East Mediterrenean Status

Nabil Y. Kurashi Regional President Wonca East Mediterrenean Professor of Family Medicine University of Dammam

EAST MEDITERRANEAN

How many times have you seen a welder working without safety mask on?

How many times have you seen a furniture workers spray paint without safety masks on?

How many times have you seen a worker doing road repairs without ample covering under the 42 degrees centigrade heat?

Empowering Workers

I saw these scenarios many times

and so did you!!!

Empowering Workers

This situation continues to happen in EMR and I am afraid will continue to happen unless the workers: are empowered to understand their need for occupational health and safety have the knowledge of occupational health and safety principles are trained to practice occupational health and safety have workplaces that put occupational health and safety management systems in place

Empowering Workers

There are numbers of occupational health and safety management systems which can be applied in the EMR workplace, among which are: • British Standard BS 8800:2004 “Guide to Occupational

health and safety management system”,

• “Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series OHSAS 18001” International Labor Office ILO-OSH 2001 “Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems”

Empowering Workers

Each of these management systems is based on the “plan-do-check-act” management model and embodies the principle of continual improvement as exemplified in the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families of standards. There are no fundamental differences between any of these management systems, and there are large degree of overlap in system elements and most are common requirements.

Empowering Workers

Status of Occupational Health

and Safety (OHS) in EMR

Oman

Legislation: General safety, health and conditions of work Law Governing Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, issued in accordance to Sultani Decree No. 40 of 1976. CIS 93-1 Present cooperation with WHO in strengthening the technical normative capacity of the MOH to set health standards and guidelines to protect the health of the population from environmental hazards and promoting and monitoring effective occupational health and safety practices.



Oman Major Organization Practicing OHS in Oman: Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) through Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Management System OHS training by the Environmental and Occupational Health Department of Ministry of Health in the Sultanate of Oman, in cooperation with some OSH training organizations such as Vocational Education and Training Programme for the Member Countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-VET)

Saudi Arabia • Legislation: General Regulations for rules and procedures for

implementation of the occupational hazards branch and implementing decisions

• Regulations for annuities and compensation payment rules and procedures (Annuities Branch) 1984, CIS 97-2 rural safety, health and conditions of health.

Major Organization Practicing OHS in Saudi Arabia: Saudi Aramco, SABIC

OHS training: Diploma Program by Arab Development Institute (ADI), Short

term courses by ADI and other training organizations



Qatar Legislation: General safety, health and conditions of health. Labor Law Articles 98,99,100, 101

Training: Training courses in Occupational Health, Safety, Environmental and Food Safety- Doha Industrial Safety Services (DISS)

Major Organization Practicing OHS in Qatar: Qatar Petroleum Qatar Petrochemical Company



Bahrain Legislation: General safety, health and conditions of health. Labor Law

Major Organization Practicing OHS in Bahrain: Bahrain National Gas Petroleum Dockyards

Short term courses or training by demand through training organizations:

RRC Middle East -RRC Training and Consultancy AETC Arabian East Training Centre for Health & Safety-OSHO

National Occupational Safety & Health Centre



Jordan

Legislation: General safety, health and conditions of health. Labor Law Ministry of Health department of occupational health

guidelines and monitoring Major Organization Practicing OHS in Jordan: Government offices and agencies Some large businesses and industries

Training: Short term courses or training by demand through training

organizations-



Egypt Legislation Labor law As of February 2010, Decree No. 25 of 2010 requires

companies employing 50 or more employees to set up a functional agency and one or more committee specialized in occupational health and safety Since 23 April 2010, Industrial facilities have been required to

comply with OHAS 18001 Major Organization Practicing OHS: Required for every workplace Education and Training University degrees in Bachelor, Master and Doctor of OHS OHS training organizations –offering short term courses



Generally in EMR … • OSH Legislation is included in the laws of all Arab States

under study, however in a varying level of details, integration of OSH provisions into the studied countries’ legislation varies as well.

• In some countries it is relatively as old as the endorsement of the country’s constitution, while in others, it’s relatively new with a new Labor code, or a recently updated one.

• All countries have amended their legislations and Labor codes in various levels, to match International standards and improve the working conditions of the Labor forces.



• Work related risks not covered by legislation in other countries

• For legislation that covers OSH risks; it is noticed that priorities vary for different countries, and accordingly, countries may exclude or disregard certain OSH aspects.

Examples:

• In countries such as Palestine, the provisions on pathology

risks such as HIV and carcinogens at the working environments are missing in the legislation.



• Exposure limits to radiation and sunrays are also missing in some legislation, such as in Qatar and Jordan.

• Kuwait, Bahrain, and others, exclude the public and certain informal sectors such as agriculture, from their legislation.



Empowering the worker in OHS is

making them aware of their rights under their

country’s laws

Empowering Workers

It is teaching them the basic principles of OHS and to safeguard their health and safety in the workplace. It is making available to them OHS training avenues Most important of all, workers must be given occupational health and safety evidence-based and patient centered-healthcare which allows for periodic early detection for occupational health diseases.

Empowering Workers

An ounce of caution

is better than a pound of cure...

Occupational Health and Safety

is the Best Policy…

Empowering Workers

EAST MEDITERRANEAN

Thank You!

EAST MEDITERRANEAN

The First Family Medicine

Congress and Exhibition

Wonca East Mediterranean Region

December 17-19, 2011 Dubai International

Convention & Exbition Centre

Dubai, UAE

The 1st Wonca EMR Conference

Health & Medicine

Empowering workers through occupational health and safety training, the east mediterrenean status