Reverend Edison Bynoe preaching to the congregation yesterday.
The Labour Department joined the congregation of the Bethel Pentecostal Church in Drax Hall St. George for a service marking the beginning of Occupational Health and Safety Week.
Among those who joined members of the department were Toni Moore, General Secretary of the Barbados Workers’ Union; Roslyn Smith, General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers; and Vincent Burnett former Chief Labour Officer.
After a lively song service, Senator Dr. the Honourable Esther Byer Suckoo, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, addressed the gathering. Suckoo, who is a member of the rural church spoke on what is required from both employee and employers in the work environment. Locally this year has been designated the national year of productivity with the theme for the week of festivities being, “Safe Workplaces are Productive Workplaces.” The Minister stated, “Safe workplaces do not happen just by themselves. Safe workplaces happen because there is a deliberate effort, there are policies put in place and procedures to make sure that happens.”
She shared that when she was appointed to the position she was not au fait with the field, but as a doctor she was cognisant of the injuries that could occur. She expressed, “When I came to the Ministry of Labour, though I did not have a trade union or other labour management background, I came from the position of knowing all of you, and knowing what you suffered within the workplace – so I set to work to make sure that we could correct some of those things.”
Byer-Suckoo continued to list some of the changes that were made and some of the acts that were proclaimed during her tenure. This included the introduction of a Minimum Wage Board, which also deals with the terms and conditions at work, the Holiday with Pay Act, the Shops Act. Legislation to deal with Sexual Harassment in the workplace is also on stream. An emphasis is being placed on having these changes documented since the environment is not static and foreign interests that operate in our environment are not aware of how our paradigm works.
The week’s festivities will include seminars at the Accra Beach Hotel and Spa. They are geared towards raising awareness and giving guidance on specific issues. Practical methods on improving health and safety will also be discussed. Other matters to be addressed include the provocative topic of drug testing in the work place and also the solution to violence in the business environment. She noted that since a large portion of the legislation uses the term “reasonably practical” the department is focussed on bringing clarity to the term.
Various workplaces and industrial estates around the island will be visited and information will be disseminated related to safety and health. The Minister stated, “Apart from what we are doing, we are encouraging other organisations to join with us to promote safety, health and productivity in their work places; So they can have health fairs and they can have health inspections by safety committees.” She also called for a renewed focus on the practice of safety drills. Lectures and posting general information to educate teams about safety practices relevant to the organisation through announcements or the use of the intranet were also encouraged.
The ultimate goal is to have a safety and health culture which promotes the reduction of accidents in the workplace since prevention is better than cure. Byer-Suckoo concluded, “There are no shortcuts to being productive and there are no shortcuts to safety and health.” (ST)