Pretoria – The Department of Labour is celebrating this year’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Day in Towomba Research Station just outside Bela-Bela, in Limpopo.
At the celebration, industry roleplayers will views on how to curb the rapidly growing numbers of injuries and diseases occurring in various workplaces in South Africa.
The celebration is being held under the theme “Join in building the culture of prevention on Occupational Health and Safety”.
Sharing some of the overviews of the theme on the sidelines of the main event, before addressing the large crowds within the industry, Carol Mthethwa, OHS Specialist in the Department of Labour, expressed concern that over two million fatalities occur in the country every year.
Furthermore, 270 million of these incidents are injuries and damage to property, while 160 million are occupational diseases.
“All these put a huge burden on the state, as it takes responsibility to compensate and rehabilitated those affected. In many instances, this leads to an increase in poverty, as bread winners are involved,” Mthethwa said.
She urged roleplayers to work closely with the department by informing them speedily when an individual is ill or injured at work, when machines run out of control, when a spillage of dangerous substance takes place, where parts of the machine disintegrate or is fractured and when a person becomes unconscious.
The celebrations are held annually as endorsed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 28 April and the world's trade union movement also holds its International Commemoration Day for deceased and injured workers to honour the memory of victims of occupational accidents and diseases on this day.
According to the department, most of these incidents occur in sectors such as agriculture, mining, iron and steel as well as construction.
The department, as a custodian of OHS, has been at the forefront of ensuring compliance with the various pieces of labour legislations with a more emphasis on OHS as it is viewed as one of the leading phenomenon in robbing various industries and the country of valuable, skilled and professional human capital through injuries and diseases incurred at workplaces. – SAnews.gov.za
