With inspection and enforcement high on its agenda, the Department of Labour (DoL) will host a national conference to highlight the importance of improving workplace health and safety in the industry and organisations.
Through the conference the Department of Labour’s (DoL) Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) Business Unit will seek to highlight the state of occupational health and safety (OHS) in South Africa and assess how the country’s organisation’s measures up and reinforce the safety message geared towards interventions to reduce injuries and diseases in the country.
The gathering will be held under the theme: “Road To Zero” - at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg next to O.R Tambo International Airport. The four-day conference will start on 6 March 2012. It will be wrapped-up with a keynote address by Labour Minister Oliphant, whose paper will focus on interventions to reduce injuries and diseases in South Africa.
Milly Ruiters, director: Health and Hygiene at the Department of Labour said the rise in incidence in the workplace was putting a burden on the economy. She said the intention of the conference is to raise awareness on the imperatives of occupational safety in the workplace.
Ruiters said through the interaction at the conference this would help improve compliance with Occupational Health and Hygiene (OHH) standards and legislation.
The conference will be opened on the first day by the Department of Labour’s deputy director general of inspection and enforcement services (IES) Siyanda Nxawe on the state of the OHS in SA’s industry.
A high level list of speakers have been lined up coming from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), OHS experts from the Department of Labour and industry bodies, the private sector, government; and major labour federations.
The morning session will take the form of a plenary and this will be later followed by breakaway sessions on various topics around issues of OHS. The papers by speakers will focus on subjects such as: risk management and assessment, designing for construction health and safety and ergonomics, construction ergonomics, systems to assist occupational health and hygiene staff, HIV and TB in the workplace, medical surveillance and biological monitoring, health and safety in the informal economy.
For more information on the national Occupational Health and Safety conference contact:
Paballo Nkhumane
Tel: 012 309 4408
E-mail: Paballo.Nkhumane@labour.gov.za
Nozi Maphoto
Tel: 012 309 4399
E-mail: Nozi.Maphoto@labour
Important: For Media confirmations please contact:
Shadrack Mashalaba
Cell: 083 753 8820
Masede Mosema
Cell: 082 887 3966
