‘Time for complacency over workplace safety is over’ - OHSA

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority has called for workplace safety to become a principle “adopted by all, acted upon seriously, and fostered as the way forward”.

“It is not enough to take stock of the situation once a year,” OHSA chief executive Mark Gauci said, on the eve of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. “The time for complacency is over, and the time for concerted action by everyone is now,”

“The International Labour Organisation is using the slogan ‘Remember the dead; fight like hell for the living’. This slogan is so very apt.

“We should never forget the people who lost their lives at work – and our deepest condolences go to the families of such victims.”

He called on safety to be “embraced by all as a positive investment in the workplace”.

“It is about time that we move away from the erroneous concept that a government authority has to take action in this field for anyone to be instigated to do anything,” Gauci said.

“Awareness-raising from our part alone is not enough. There has to be real and effective commitment from all stake holders, be it the government, employers in the private sectors, self-employed, OHS representatives and specialists, unions and workers.

“No employment contract should cost workers their lives or impair them in any way, sometimes for the rest of their lives.”

While he noted that statistics show a downward trend in the rate of occupational accidents and fatalities, Gauci pointed out that “each statistic represents in fact a human life – a person who went out to work healthy and either did not make it back home or else ended up injured at work”.

He argued that concrete social dialogue, collective bargaining between employers and unions, enterprise management and commitment coupled with effective legislation and a powerful enforcement authority have all been proven to contribute towards high safety standards.