National occupational safety and health profile to be validated |02 August 2012

A two-day workshop took place recently at Care House, where a range of stakeholders came to give their inputs, suggestions and recommendations on the document called the national occupational safety and health profile.
 
Updated from the existing profile of 2006 by the director general for labour relations Jimmy Finesse, stakeholders present at the meeting included representatives of the Seychelles Federation of Workers Union, Association of Seychelles Employers, Ministry of Health, employers and also safety officers from various workplaces.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, ILO representative Franklin Muchiri said this is the second time they have carried out analysis to see how Seychelles is performing in the areas of occupational safety and health.

“I am happy and proud to say that we have seen a lot of progress in these two areas and it is important to keep moving forward,” he said.
 
“We are here not only to carry out a situational analysis, but to also carry out a study to see how you record and notify information on diseases.”
 
The ILO provides various terms of reference which Seychelles has to meet. The terms of reference include laws, and other mechanisms to oversee safety at work, such as inspection, report and investigation.

Recording of statistics is also looked at in the profile. For example, how many accidents have happened in a workplace or how many people are getting benefits from injuries at workplaces.

“We have seen that one of the weaknesses in Seychelles is the recording of diseases, which is asked for in the profile, and this we will have to work strongly on to include in our document,” said Mr Finesse.

He explained that once the profile is approved by the ILO, a national health and safety policy will be made based on the profile.

“Having such an official document will bring the country many benefits, such as getting the technical and financial support of the ILO for various projects that come as a result of the profile,” he said.

The profile was broken down into parts and scrutinised over two days.
 
Any amendments to the profile will be made by Mr Finesse, after which the profile will be sent to the ILO and once approved, the document will be known as the official national occupational safety and health profile.