Safety and Health Symposium

(ZIZ News) — As the Federation prepares to mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28 a symposium was held at the Ocean Terrace Inn focusing on stress at the workplace.

The World Day for Safety and Health is an international annual awareness campaign to promote safety, health, and decent work.

It has been observed since 2001 this year is being held under the theme Workplace Stress: A Collective Challenge.

Senior Labour Officer, Shernel James noted that the theme is timely as stress on the job can affect both employees and employers.

“This is unhealthy for workers health and can also cause the employers and industry to l9ose face. Worker who face the problem of workplace stress can face can become prone to low motivation unhealthiness, less productivity, lower satisfaction level, and less safety at the workplace,” she said.

President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Jose Rosa said for him safety in the workplace is a way of life.

“For me, it’s not a priority really; it’s a way of life. And I’ve worked in many places and I’ve seen that many accidents can be avoided and then it’s sad you don’t accomplish your work when some of your employees have an accident. You can prevent those accidents. Safety for me has always played a big role in my life,” he said

Minister of Labour, the Hon Vance Amory spoke of the importance of the workforce and the relations between employers and employees.

“The importance of people, the resources, can be likened to the chain which drives the engine of your vehicle or your bicycle. All the cogs are there and if you take one of those cogs out and the chain breaks, that’s it. Everything stops or there is damage,” he said.

In an earlier address to launch activities for World Day for Safety and Health at Work Premier Amory said “stress is now the single biggest cause of sickness in the world and can lead to poor health and even injury. Workplace stress results in over 105 million days being lost to stress each year, costing companies billions of dollars due to loss of productivity.