Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Asean Committed To Minimising Workplace Accidents

BANDUNG (W Java, Indonesia), Sept 29 (Bernama) -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is committed to lowering the number of accidents and illnesses at work in the region, Antara news agency reported a senior official as saying.

"Minimising the number of accidents and illnesses at work is among the challenges Asean countries are facing during the free trade era like today," secretary general of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, Besar Setyoko, said here on Tuesday during the opening ceremony of a workshop titled Asean Occupational Safety and Health Network (OSHNET) in Bandung.

During the three-day workshop which began Tuesday Asean representatives will exchange views and ideas related to the safety and health challenges at work places in their countries.

According to data from the International Labor Organisation (ILO) published on April 28, two million workers die every year due to accidents and health problems at work.

In response to this phenomenon, Besar said, Indonesia and other Asean members had revitalised the manpower supervisory system which now focused on upgrading the supervisor's quality and quantity, law enforcement related to manpower issues and technical standardisation related to the manpower supervisory system.

Launched in 1976, the Asean-OSHNET (Asean Occupational Safety and Health Network) was recommended to establish a regional centre to collect and disseminate information within Asean and to manage research and training for the improvement of working conditions and environment.

Its members are Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

-- BERNAMA

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