AS Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the International Day for Safety and Health at Work place, the International Centre for Labour law and administration, (ICELA) has asked the National Assembly to urgently pass the occupational Safety and Health bill before it, as a sendoff gift to the Nigerian workers.Lagos -based Labour lawyer and Executive Director of the Centre (ICELA), Mr. Enobong Etteh made the call in Lagos during the activities marking the 2011 World Day for Safety and Health at work declared by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).The ILO celebrates the World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28 to ensure the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases globally. It is an awareness-raising campaign intended to focus international attention on emerging trends in the field of occupational safety and health and on the magnitude of work-related injuries, diseases and fatalities worldwide.April 28 is also a day in which the worlds trade union movement holds its International Commemoration Day for dead and injured workers to honour victims of occupational accidents and diseases.The celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is an integral part of the Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health of the ILO and promotes the creation of a global preventative safety and health culture involving all stakeholders. In many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, employers organisations and safety and health practitioners organise activities to celebrate this date.According to Juan Somavia, the Director-General of ILO, occupational safety and health was first of all a matter of human rights and respect for human dignity.The 2011 World Day for Safety and Health at Work focuses on the implementation of an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) as a tool for continual improvement in the prevention of workplace incidents and accidents.An OSHMS is a preventive method to implement safety and health measures, which consists of four steps and incorporates the principle of continual improvement. Its principles are based on the PDCA Cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act. Its purpose is to establish a comprehensive and structured mechanism for joint action of management and workers in the implementation of safety and health measures. OSHMS can be an effective tool for the management of hazards specific to a given industry, process or organisation.The occupation Safety and Health at Work Bill expected to repeal the antiquated the 1970 Factory Act, has been pending at has been pending before the National Assembly, since February, 2009, a situation, Etteh said is worrisome and inimical to the International conventions, which Nigeria is a signatory.Addressing newsmen in Lagos, on the importance of the day, that was marked for the first time in the country by ICELA, in collaboration with the Centre for Occupational Safety and Heath (COSH), Etteh regretted that bill, which had scaled second reading at the Senate and undergo public hearing at the House of Assembly may be subjected to a fresh process at the expiration of the present legislative session, thereby rendering the enormous work already done wasteful.He called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the bill now that elections are over with the view to passing it into law before the end of their session.According to Etteh, there is need for organisations in Nigeria to create a unit of Occupational Safety and Health or assign an official to man the unit in order to determine the current health status of their work force. He said, the centre has created a desk to tackle issues involving safety and health of Nigerian workers, with the view to enforcing existing labour related laws and conventions.While thanking President Good luck Jonathan of making the National industrial Court (NIC), a superior court of court involving labor matters, Etteh, who was also the Editor in Chief of Nigeria Labour Law Reports, urged President Jonathan to create a board of enquiry to review all existing international labour laws, and conventions with the view to domesticating them.Nigerians, he said should realise that Labour law, is quite expansive and go beyond wrongful termination and dismissal, and should utilise the opportunity being created to avoid being vegetables on their retirement due to lack of information of safety and health at work places.There are over 70 Occupational Safety and Health Instruments conventions inclusive. So far Nigeria has only ratified three of the conventions namely: Safety and Health Convention No155 of 1981 (Revised), No 32 of 1932; Prevention of Accidents (Seafarers) Convention No 134 of. 1970 and Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention No. 174 of 1993.But ICELA-COSH has called on Nigeria to ratify the following ILO Conventions on Occupational Safety and Health: Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention No 174. Safety and Health in Mines Convention No 176 of 1995 Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention No 152 of 1979 Safety and Health in Construction Convention No 167 of 1984. Safety Provisions (Building) Convention, No 62 of 1937 Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention No 184 of 2001 Occupational Cancer Convention, No 139 of 1974 Occupational Health Services Convention, No 161 of 1985 and Health Protection and Medical Care (Seafarers) Convention, No 164 of 1987.
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