Occupational Health and Safety Policy and Guidelines launched

Accra, Aug. 24, GNA - Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister of Health, on Wednesday launched a new policy document dubbed: 93Occupational Health and Safety Policy and Guidelines" for the health sector.

It is expected to serve as a model guideline for adoption across all major sectors of the economy to ensure safe and healthy workplace programme= s and further encourage more investments in the health, well-being and safety of employers, employees as well as communities where they operate. Mr Yieleh Chireh said the Ministry of Health considered workplace safety, healthy working environment and wellbeing of workers as one of the critical sector priorities, which had the potential of contributing to the overall economic growth of the country. He said in spite of the huge benefits of ensuring sound occupational health and safety, the country was saddled with a myriad of challenges, mos= t of which were taken for granted either out of ignorance or the blatant refusal to invest in safety. Some of the work-related hazards are exposure to loud noise and excessive vibration, handling of hazardous chemicals without adequate protection, working under conditions of poor lightening and sometimes working with exposed and faulty electronic connections. Others are instances of gas explosions in various areas of the country which did not affect only workers but also innocent passers-by resulting in fatalities, deaths and loss of properties.

The Health Minister said the high cost of ill-health due to poor safet= y cultures and the resulting loss of productivity could be immense, saying th= e International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that 14 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries were lost to workplace ill-health and injury, while Ghana spent about seven per cent of her GDP on health-related care. "For us in Ghana, this is further complicated by the heavy toll due to malaria and other communicable diseases on individuals and their families, not only in terms of ill-health, but also in considerable social costs and economic losses due to negative effects on productivity. "Insanitary workplace conditions such as poor toilet facilities, lac= k of potable water, food preparation under unhygienic conditions, sharing of few drinking cups and plates by many workers coupled with inadequate washin= g facilities increase the spate of communicable diseases like tuberculosis, food poisoning and diarrhoeal diseases," he said.

Mr Yieleh Chireh indicated that safety and health at work was not only sound economic policy, but also a basic human right as enshrined in the 199= 2 Constitution and also recognised in the Labour Act of 2003, Act 651 and the ultimate result in investing in the general wellness and welfare of workers was to ensure increased productivity.

He said it was in this vein that the Ministry welcomed the idea of integrating the framework of the World Health Organisation (WHO) model whic= h embraced all aspects of prevention of ill-health and injury to workers and also their benefits to the community, within the practice of occupational health in Ghana.

Mr Yieleh Chireh indicated that the Public Health Bill, which was before Parliament required that all workers were screened prior to employment and thereafter regularly for general illnesses as well as workplace-specific ill-health, therefore workplace programmes and employee well being programmes would soon become a requirement of all workplaces in the country.

He called on industry players particularly management of companies to embrace the challenge, make firm commitments from the perspective of the health sector and from that of industry to adopt a rigorous and comprehensive framework for the health and social protection of their workforce.

Mr Yieleh Chireh said it was expected that the Occupational Health Uni= t of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) would develop the requisite capacity for such a task and in addition be in the position to advice on the health impact of developmental projects in due course.

Dr Edith Clarke, Head of Occupational Health Unit, GHS, in an overview of the healthy workplace model, said it combined both health protection and promotion and intend to train company coordinators made up of Steering Committees for advocacy within their organisations. She said priority would be given to issues such as the development of wellness policies within industries and the devotion of funding to support the programme.

Dr Clarke said GHS intended to expand education to other areas of the country through interactive forums to raise awareness and also stress on th= e need for enhanced investment in OHS to improve GDP by reducing the disease burden and high cost of health care and boost employee morale for high productivity turn-outs.