Wednesday, August 8, 2012
EFFECTIVE LEGISLATION ON ALCOHOL IN AFRICA WILL SAVE AFRICANS
I ran into the article below out of curiosity and my continuous demand for enabling public health policies and laws which are duly enforced in the interest of public health and safety. In one of our publications we advocated the need for robust health, safety and environment policies in Nigeria and Africa in general because of the global investment traffic that has been directed towards Africa of late which is almost making Africa a pivot which the future global economy will revolve.
If this being true, there is therefore the urgent need for the legislative arm of Government across African continent to rise up in the interest of the African people to embark on informed legislations that will protect the people and sustain the future (environment). It is not enough to make laws but most importantly is enforcement. Where are the regulators of products that are inimical to the safety and security of African people? Why has Africa become a choice place of such trade? Is this traceable to dysfunctional legislative and enforcement malfunction? What really has gone wrong? Should we keep quiet? But if we do, what happens to the future that our children yearn to see? When they see the system we finally hand over to them, will they be proud of us?
Let us start for the basic; i get really worried when i see alcohol advertisements all over the streets of Lagos, Nigeria and even in both the electronic and the print media. In the just concluded ISO 26000 (NAP) technical session in Abuja, we were asked if it is proper for a tobacco company to be allowed to involve in Social Responsibility owing to the fact that what they produce causes the highest number of deaths in the world that are traceable to cancer. Most of us felt it will be wrong to allow tobacco company use proceeds from such harmful trade to perform SR. What about alcohol brewers? What about arms and ammunitions manufacturers? These were the contrasting points raised while the debate lasted.
My questions are:
•Is it not possible to make legislation that will control the consumption of alcohol across Africa?
•What alcohol brewers pay as taxes, is it enough to sacrifice the safety and security of Africans for?
•What is obtainable in terms of control and regulations in other continents of the world?
•In whose interest does an African legislator initiates legislative process?
•Are the regulators of this market adequately supported by law?
•Can other African countries take a leap from the South Africa, Kenya and Zambia initiatives?
•What is responsible for the rather very loose regulation and control of alcohol market in Nigeria?
Please read the article below as culled from Channels Television posting and leave your comment when you are done.
Africa leads the world in binge drinking despite widespread religious restriction, Africa is now believed to be leading the world in binge drinking and lawmakers across the continent are targeting alcohol as a public health problem with tougher regulations which could curb growth for brewers. Yet the companies see more growth expansion in the continent.
On a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon in Worcester, a forlorn rural community near South Africa’s southern tip, the queue at the liquor store is the longest in town.
It’s a scene constantly repeated across South Africa and a number of other nations on the continent: the prelude to a weekend of binge drinking.
After years of turning a blind eye to alcohol abuse, politicians from South Africa to Kenya and Zambia are under pressure to tackle a problem that is adding to Africa’s burden of HIV, birth defects, road accidents and violent crime.
Africa has the world’s highest proportion of binge drinkers, even though its large populations of Muslims and evangelical Christians generally abstain from alcohol. As incomes rise, it has become a boom market for international brewers and distillers whose sales are often flagging in the wealthy world.
“It’s true that most people in Africa don’t drink for cultural, religious and economic reasons but those who drink, drink a lot,” said Dr Vladimir Poznyak of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.
If governments finally crack down effectively, companies such as SABMiller, Diageo Plc and Heineken NV may find Africa no longer allows the spectacular sales growth they have achieved there in recent years.
The drinks firms say Africans are better off consuming their products than popular but sometimes lethal home concoctions.
However, the effects in Worcester of drinkers rapidly consuming dangerous – sometimes even fatal – quantities of alcohol are obvious. The liquor store queue snakes past a drunken man crumpled on the ground in a pool of vomit and in the evening drinkers cram into Worcester’s numerous run-down bars.
“They drink and drink and drink. They don’t stop when it is necessary to stop drinking liquor,” said Berita Jones, a police captain in the town of about 130,000.
“Worcester’s crime is almost entirely alcohol-related,” said Jones, whose time is spent checking that its 166 licensed bars outlets comply with the law, and making regular raids of its more than 300 shebeens, or informal taverns.
UNQUENCHABLE THIRST
Home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, Africa’s thirst for beer and spirits is almost unquenchable: analysts estimate beer volumes rose around 7 percent last year. Excluding the mature South African market, growth reached more than 10 percent.
Drinks companies want to keep up the momentum. SABMiller is investing up to $2.5 billion over the next five years to build and renovate breweries on the continent. Rival Diageo’s African sales have risen by an average 15 percent in each of the last five years, and now account for 14 percent of the group’s total.
But some public health officials say regulation of alcohol consumption and education about its abuse have failed to keep pace. “In parallel to this increase in commercial alcohol availability, the infrastructure and regulation for effective alcohol control have no strong tradition in many African countries,” said Poznyak.
NEW LAWS
On average an African drinks about 6.15 litres of pure alcohol each year, about half of what a European consumes. However, more than 25 percent of Africans are binge drinkers, the highest proportion in the world, according to a WHO report.
Most African countries already have laws that prohibit underage drinking and drink driving, but critics say these are poorly enforced and often completely ignored.
South Africa is crafting a new law to restrict alcohol advertising, raise the minimum drinking age to 21 from 18 and get tougher on drink driving, Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini has said.
The bill would also propose warning labels on alcohol containers, raising taxes and stricter licensing laws for alcohol outlets, said a government official who declined to be identified because the bill has not yet been made public.
The bill will be discussed in South Africa’s cabinet in the next few weeks before its release for public comment, the official said.
In Kenya authorities are also looking to raise the legal drinking age to 21 from 18, following on from a 2010 law that banned alcohol sales in grocery stores and in bars before 5 p.m.
The Mututho law, named after the legislator who crafted it, John Mututho, is credited for a 90 percent drop in alcohol-related deaths in Kenya.
“Even when we say we have succeeded up to that level, we are also saying we have failed 10 percent, so the age of drinking will be 21. We are amending the law,” Mututho said.
Earlier this year, Zambia banned the manufacture and sale of spirits in relatively cheap small plastic sachets, which it blamed for increasing alcohol abuse by young people. Zambia’s health department secretary told Reuters that alcohol-related road accidents and health problems are increasingly a concern.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and a huge beer market, alcohol regulation does exist but critics say it is loosely enforced.
Adeline Osakwe, deputy director at the Nigeria Food and Drug Administration, said the country ensures consumers are aware of alcohol content through product labelling. It also regulates alcohol advertising.
“For TV commercials, as long as it will not lead people to abuse alcohol, we give approvals,” Osakwe said.
HOME-BREW TO HEINEKEN
For years poor Africans were limited to home-brew sorghum or maize beer, sometimes made with dangerous ingredients such as battery acid to increase the potency.
Commercial alcohol is now widely available in most African states and premium brands such as Johnny Walker whisky or Heineken beer are increasingly in reach of the average drinker.
Rising incomes have also encouraged conspicuous consumption of premium brands. Even in Worcester’s gritty nightclubs, some tables are weighed down by bottles of pricey spirits such Scotch whiskies Chivas Regal and Glenfiddich.
Drinks companies say commercially produced alcohol is safer than home-brews. “The alternative is that lower income people who wish to consume liquor will buy illicit and potentially dangerous alcohol,” said Vincent Maphai, executive director of Corporate Affairs at SABMiller’s South African unit.
SABMiller is already offering lower priced beer in order to win over drinkers from the home-brew market, which it says is about four times the $11 billion commercial market.
Higher alcohol taxes, which the South African bill is likely to impose, risk of pushing the poor back to potentially lethal home-brews. Nevertheless, public health officials say governments need to do more to warn about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
BIRTH DEFECTS
Even several months into pregnancy, Johannesburg resident Martha regularly drank until she passed out. She never worried about the effect until her son was born with a hole in his heart. “I would have stopped if I knew that it would harm my baby like this,” said Martha, who declined to give her family name.
Her son, now 12 years old, was diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome, an incurable birth defect that has left him with the brain and body of a four-year old.
South Africa has the highest reported number of children with such birth defects: about 122 out of every 1,000 are born with the syndrome, compared with about 8 per 1,000 in the United States, according to South Africa’s Foundation for Alcohol Related Research.
But experts say many Africans, like Martha, don’t get proper education about the dangers of alcohol, especially in rural areas where access to hospitals and clinics is limited.
Alcohol also heightens the danger on a continent where driving is already perilous. Kenya’s Kenyatta National Hospital treats up to 40 victims of road accidents, mostly caused by drunk drivers and pedestrians, on some Saturday nights.
But with little to do beyond drinking for entertainment in many parts of rural Africa, health officials face a tough battle.
“In spite of all economic benefits that increased investments in alcohol production and sales can bring, the health of the population should be properly protected and this should be a priority,” the WHO’s Poznyak said. “Health is the best investment, also from an economic point of view, in any society.”
Monday, April 11, 2011
THE ECONOMICS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY IN AN EMERGING ECONOMY: THE SRAC MODEL APPROACH. A PAPER PRESENTED BY: EHI IDEN, OCTOBER 2010
INTRODUCTION TO OHS ECONOMICS
In the context of this presentation, we will refer to OHS Economics as a workplace management strategy guided by corporate value to reduce cost, improve health, safety, productivity and increase employees’ morale. Going by the above introduction, we see OHS Economics as a deliberate management plan occupying a very prominent position in organization’s corporate value chain. Nothing would have made provisions for OHS Economics in the value chain a defined and strong leadership commitment in words and in action as a reliable strategy in reducing direct and indirect cost in both short and long term arising from work processes during accidents, medical treatment cost, absenteeism, claims, high insurance premiums, equipment damage and other related costs.
Every success recorded in OHS breakthroughs in our workplaces is credited to the commitment given by leadership and the support of all member staff and even contractors in strict compliance to pre-set operational safety policies and guidelines.
WHY OHS ECONOMICS?
Most countries of the world are growing in different dimensions with the strong hope of being market leaders in various capacities and this has led to movement of capital investment from different parts of the world to meet the economic attraction of such countries. If we must guaranty the security of such investments and sustenance of host environment alongside potential employees, there is a great need for adaptation of such market or investments to the principles of Occupational Health and Safety.
According to the Honourable Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Aganga in a paper presented in the open house meeting with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) held in the facility of Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Lagos in August 2010, he said Nigeria has been rated as the 11th emerging economy of the world and as a result of this growth, it has attracted huge movement of investments into her economy with the bulk of such investments coming from the Asian continent. This brings to our mind the need for OHS operating standards and policies to guaranty safety of this huge influx of capital into the Nigerian economy.
These OHS principles are capable of guarantying the following:
• Security of capital investment
• Security of lives, properties and environment
• Sustenance of corporate reputation
• Mitigating legal consequences
The operating standards will help such business investments wisely in operating to fulfill the following imperatives:
• Social Imperatives
• Fiscal imperatives
• Legal imperatives
THE OHS STRAC MODEL APPROACH
OHS Economics is fundamentally hinged on four cardinal safety principles known as SRAC model, an acronym culled from the following:
• Standard
• Responsibility
• Accountability
• Consequence
Standard: This can be referred as standard for workplace operations and they are provided via enabling legislation and policy formulations to create platforms for healthy, healthful and accident free work processes.
These standards are recorded and used as National information document forming the compendium of workplace standards and requirement that must be met in setting up investments in different geographical locations. These standards are also applied in the formulation of organisation’s corporate safety policies in their attempts to avoid regulators’ penalties and control direct and indirect cost arising from occupational accidents. We refer to this standpoint as the pivot wherein the OHS related benefits and losses revolve.
Responsibility: This is an offshoot of the already created standards in the SRAC model paradigm. The model saddles organisations and investments with the obligation to fulfill task and initiate processes to meet standards that have been set through legislation and policies. Steps to fulfilling these responsibilities are all defined in the corporate safety policy of organizations; roles are assigned with timely evaluation on performance. Task naturally brings about responsibilities and responsibilities bring about expectations.
Accountability: This is the obligation to fulfill a task in line with set standards to attract positive or negative consequence. When you are accountable, your performance is measured against some specific criteria or standards and consequences are applied appropriate to the level of quality of performance. This in summary is the evaluation of your performance upon assigned responsibility using the collectively determined pre-set standards as measure of assessments.
Consequences: This is referred to as the outcome, reward or punishment received upon measurement of performance in line with pre-set principles or standards. Consequences are either positive or negative resulting from your actions upon evaluation; this comes in form of rewards and punishments.
Rewards are the economic gains through strict control of direct and indirect costs, sustenance of healthy and productive workforce, improved corporate reputation and security of capital assets. Punishments are the regulators penalties and fines, number of injuries recorded in the workplace and the cost of managing them, loss of equipment and capital assets, loss of corporate reputation and presentation of poor balance sheet to the discouragement of shareholders at the end of your business fiscal year.
REQUIREMENT IN SRAC ADAPTATION
Training: Provide employees with the required knowledge and skills to work to meet safety requirements. Training is not a one off investment, it is a regular workplace engagement influenced by basic workplace conditions and processes to avoid accidents and enhance productivity. Trainings are required when you employ new employees, when you advance your technology or systems, when there is change in work process, work station and a number of other influencing factors that contribute to meeting safety requirement.
Resources: Provide the employees with physical resources and psychosocial support to comply with safety requirement. Such resources include a well organized workplace or office environment, provision of safe tools and deployment of result oriented human relations mechanism to meet employees’ psychosocial wellbeing which has great influence potentials on workers’ productivity and compliance to safety standards. A tough caring leadership approach is a better formula to realizing this.
Enforcement: If adequate enforcement protocols are not applied when safety standards are violated, all justification for discipline disappears. Penalties must be enforced and precedence must be set to ensure continuous compliance.
Supervision: By definition, adequate supervision means "detecting and correcting hazards or unsafe behavior before they cause an injury or illness” If supervisors are stuck in the office all day it's not possible to oversee the work employees are doing. This again is a leadership responsibility in ensuring funds are not just invested in safety but follow-up to ensure men and materials are properly mobilized and engaged to achieve the desired outcomes.
Leadership: Supervisors must "walk the talk." That means they need to set the highest examples by following all safety policies and rules, and they need to be fulfilling the above four obligations and give the right examples to employees.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAD US?
• Gross reduction in accident and associated cost
• A healthy workforce
• Increased productivity
• Minimum compensations
• Security of investments and assets
• Sustenance of corporate reputation
• Increased quality of outcomes
• Little or no consequences
• A near zero litigation ratio on work related accident claims
• More money saved, happy employees, happy shareholders
IN CONCLUSION
While concluding this presentation, I would want us all to at least go back to our workplaces with the following points as gained in this conference to impact positively in complementing our existing Occupational Health and Safety systems and creating enabling opportunities for our organizations to make profits rather than incurring losses through preventable workplace safety challenges. Be reassured of the following:
•No economy or sector can build security for lives and investments without safety standards and policies
•Consequences should not be what businesses aim at getting, rather focus more on proactive strategies that will alienate you from the weight of the regulators correction sticks
•Learn to periodically evaluate your processes and correct errors where necessary
•Training and supervision are key points to accident cost reduction
•The best OHS strategy is planning (proactive approach), it is a global best strategy
Finally, I say to you “Salus Populi Suprema Lex” -The Safety of the people is the highest law
References:
Steve Geigle: Introduction to Occupational Health and Safety Management – Course 700 Study Guide 2003
American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE): White Paper Addressing the Return on Investment for Safety, Health and (SH&E) Management Programs June, 2002
In the context of this presentation, we will refer to OHS Economics as a workplace management strategy guided by corporate value to reduce cost, improve health, safety, productivity and increase employees’ morale. Going by the above introduction, we see OHS Economics as a deliberate management plan occupying a very prominent position in organization’s corporate value chain. Nothing would have made provisions for OHS Economics in the value chain a defined and strong leadership commitment in words and in action as a reliable strategy in reducing direct and indirect cost in both short and long term arising from work processes during accidents, medical treatment cost, absenteeism, claims, high insurance premiums, equipment damage and other related costs.
Every success recorded in OHS breakthroughs in our workplaces is credited to the commitment given by leadership and the support of all member staff and even contractors in strict compliance to pre-set operational safety policies and guidelines.
WHY OHS ECONOMICS?
Most countries of the world are growing in different dimensions with the strong hope of being market leaders in various capacities and this has led to movement of capital investment from different parts of the world to meet the economic attraction of such countries. If we must guaranty the security of such investments and sustenance of host environment alongside potential employees, there is a great need for adaptation of such market or investments to the principles of Occupational Health and Safety.
According to the Honourable Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Aganga in a paper presented in the open house meeting with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) held in the facility of Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Lagos in August 2010, he said Nigeria has been rated as the 11th emerging economy of the world and as a result of this growth, it has attracted huge movement of investments into her economy with the bulk of such investments coming from the Asian continent. This brings to our mind the need for OHS operating standards and policies to guaranty safety of this huge influx of capital into the Nigerian economy.
These OHS principles are capable of guarantying the following:
• Security of capital investment
• Security of lives, properties and environment
• Sustenance of corporate reputation
• Mitigating legal consequences
The operating standards will help such business investments wisely in operating to fulfill the following imperatives:
• Social Imperatives
• Fiscal imperatives
• Legal imperatives
THE OHS STRAC MODEL APPROACH
OHS Economics is fundamentally hinged on four cardinal safety principles known as SRAC model, an acronym culled from the following:
• Standard
• Responsibility
• Accountability
• Consequence
Standard: This can be referred as standard for workplace operations and they are provided via enabling legislation and policy formulations to create platforms for healthy, healthful and accident free work processes.
These standards are recorded and used as National information document forming the compendium of workplace standards and requirement that must be met in setting up investments in different geographical locations. These standards are also applied in the formulation of organisation’s corporate safety policies in their attempts to avoid regulators’ penalties and control direct and indirect cost arising from occupational accidents. We refer to this standpoint as the pivot wherein the OHS related benefits and losses revolve.
Responsibility: This is an offshoot of the already created standards in the SRAC model paradigm. The model saddles organisations and investments with the obligation to fulfill task and initiate processes to meet standards that have been set through legislation and policies. Steps to fulfilling these responsibilities are all defined in the corporate safety policy of organizations; roles are assigned with timely evaluation on performance. Task naturally brings about responsibilities and responsibilities bring about expectations.
Accountability: This is the obligation to fulfill a task in line with set standards to attract positive or negative consequence. When you are accountable, your performance is measured against some specific criteria or standards and consequences are applied appropriate to the level of quality of performance. This in summary is the evaluation of your performance upon assigned responsibility using the collectively determined pre-set standards as measure of assessments.
Consequences: This is referred to as the outcome, reward or punishment received upon measurement of performance in line with pre-set principles or standards. Consequences are either positive or negative resulting from your actions upon evaluation; this comes in form of rewards and punishments.
Rewards are the economic gains through strict control of direct and indirect costs, sustenance of healthy and productive workforce, improved corporate reputation and security of capital assets. Punishments are the regulators penalties and fines, number of injuries recorded in the workplace and the cost of managing them, loss of equipment and capital assets, loss of corporate reputation and presentation of poor balance sheet to the discouragement of shareholders at the end of your business fiscal year.
REQUIREMENT IN SRAC ADAPTATION
Training: Provide employees with the required knowledge and skills to work to meet safety requirements. Training is not a one off investment, it is a regular workplace engagement influenced by basic workplace conditions and processes to avoid accidents and enhance productivity. Trainings are required when you employ new employees, when you advance your technology or systems, when there is change in work process, work station and a number of other influencing factors that contribute to meeting safety requirement.
Resources: Provide the employees with physical resources and psychosocial support to comply with safety requirement. Such resources include a well organized workplace or office environment, provision of safe tools and deployment of result oriented human relations mechanism to meet employees’ psychosocial wellbeing which has great influence potentials on workers’ productivity and compliance to safety standards. A tough caring leadership approach is a better formula to realizing this.
Enforcement: If adequate enforcement protocols are not applied when safety standards are violated, all justification for discipline disappears. Penalties must be enforced and precedence must be set to ensure continuous compliance.
Supervision: By definition, adequate supervision means "detecting and correcting hazards or unsafe behavior before they cause an injury or illness” If supervisors are stuck in the office all day it's not possible to oversee the work employees are doing. This again is a leadership responsibility in ensuring funds are not just invested in safety but follow-up to ensure men and materials are properly mobilized and engaged to achieve the desired outcomes.
Leadership: Supervisors must "walk the talk." That means they need to set the highest examples by following all safety policies and rules, and they need to be fulfilling the above four obligations and give the right examples to employees.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAD US?
• Gross reduction in accident and associated cost
• A healthy workforce
• Increased productivity
• Minimum compensations
• Security of investments and assets
• Sustenance of corporate reputation
• Increased quality of outcomes
• Little or no consequences
• A near zero litigation ratio on work related accident claims
• More money saved, happy employees, happy shareholders
IN CONCLUSION
While concluding this presentation, I would want us all to at least go back to our workplaces with the following points as gained in this conference to impact positively in complementing our existing Occupational Health and Safety systems and creating enabling opportunities for our organizations to make profits rather than incurring losses through preventable workplace safety challenges. Be reassured of the following:
•No economy or sector can build security for lives and investments without safety standards and policies
•Consequences should not be what businesses aim at getting, rather focus more on proactive strategies that will alienate you from the weight of the regulators correction sticks
•Learn to periodically evaluate your processes and correct errors where necessary
•Training and supervision are key points to accident cost reduction
•The best OHS strategy is planning (proactive approach), it is a global best strategy
Finally, I say to you “Salus Populi Suprema Lex” -The Safety of the people is the highest law
References:
Steve Geigle: Introduction to Occupational Health and Safety Management – Course 700 Study Guide 2003
American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE): White Paper Addressing the Return on Investment for Safety, Health and (SH&E) Management Programs June, 2002
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A COPY OF MY APPEAL LETTER TO ILO
My name is Ehi Iden, I am the Chief Executive Officer of Occupational Health and Safety Managers Ltd, a co-founder of Centre for Preventive Health and Advocacy, an NGO whose main focus is on Preventive Health and Occupational Safety.
In Occupational Health and Safety Managers, we have been involved in a wide variety of capacity building and development programs in Nigeria where we have been able to train a good number of people in Occupational Health and Safety. This is very core in our operational focus and it is a continuous program for us in our entire existence as an organization.
In as much as we train people to be able to primarily practice Occupational Health and Safety and also know how to draw and formulate policies in the area of safety in their workplaces, we are still bedeviled with a frustrating problem of not having enabling laws to base our practice or having a constitutional reference to enforce safety principles in workplace. The absence of such enabling laws have made organizations in Nigeria to expose workers to high risk levels to the extent that workers get maimed and even die on a daily basis in Nigeria in such a careless abandoned nature. There are no injuries reports, no statistics and the organizations are not even willing to draw up corporate safety policies because there has not been any law in Nigeria that has placed a responsibility on them to do so. The factory act and the workmen’s compensation act is an empty document in Nigeria and cannot secure the safety of Nigerian workers in their workplaces, we have visited some of organization to solicit for opportunities to allow us train their employees in Occupational Health and Safety and they bluntly tell us they do not need it. The few companies we have in Nigeria who recognize Occupational Health and Safety are the big multinationals who are running the policies constituted in their parent country of origin. The Asian companies have invaded Nigerian economy and they are killing Nigerians in their multiplied numbers through workplace accidents and it is becoming a situation where we are thinking we would have no future the way the Nigerian workplaces are being exposed to hazards of all kinds.
I will at this point give kudos to the modern day thinking Governor of Lagos State who summoned courage to call for a stakeholders conference on workplace safety in Lagos State sometime ago and he publicly declared the intentions of Lagos State Government to set up Lagos State Safety Commission which we have waited for to no avail but that move was a respite to most of us. I would not be shocked if we discover that the delay in getting this proposed safety commission set up is hinged on the absence of local enabling laws to operate the said commission.
I am most dismayed with the fact that Nigeria was among member countries that signed the Occupational Health and Safety Law in the Geneva convention of 1981 and why it is taking so long for this same law to be domesticated in to our local laws, we are yet to know. What help can the ILO render inthis direction to enable us secure the future of our dear country by influencing the Nigerian Government to sign the Geneva law in to our local law content?
A bill on Occupational Health and Safety was initiated almost 4 years ago at the floor of the Senate by Senator Chris Anyanwu and nobody has talked about that bill and it is not even given attention. What do we do? Nigeria is our country, we can keep rolling out graduates from Universities only to get killed and maimed in their workplaces due to the absence of enabling laws to provide safety and security for workers in workplaces. Parents lose their children on daily basis to this ill situation, most women enter early widowhood because of the loss of their husbands to workplace accident which ultimately leaves the children fatherless to face harsh life’s situation that has directly or indirectly contributed to the turnover of criminality and other socio vices in our Nation.
This is an appeal to International Labour Organisation, as an arm of United Nations to please offer every help necessary to Nigeria in ensuring Occupational Health and Safety Law is in place. Our heart bleeds, we do not even know how we got here, we need you to help us out of this lawlessness in workplaces and put us on a right track to enable us go on that Nigeria may have hope and a future. The future of this Nation lies in the youth who die daily in their workplaces due to high exposure to hazards without necessary controls.
I strongly believe you will act on this cry for help.
Ehi Iden
Friday, April 30, 2010
THE CONTENT OF NIGERIAN OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY BILL
The Bill to enact a law that would take care of the health and safety of industrial workers passed through second reading on the floor of the Senate on 25th February, 2009.
The bill sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu which was committed to the senate committees on Labour, Health seeks amongst other things to ensure that employers of labour are properly protected.
• To make further provisions for securing the safety, health and welfare of persons at work;
• To make provisions for protecting others against risks to safety or health in connection with the activities of persons at work;
• To establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health to create a general framework for the improvement of working conditions and the working environment;
• To prevent accidents and departures from health arising out of or in the course of work;
• To ensure the provision of occupational safety and health services to workers in all sectors of economic activity.
The bill is also to establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health Hazards and for related issues with the following functions:
• To ensure employee safety and health in Nigeria by working with employers and employees to create better working environments;
• To act as a regulatory agency by issuing safety and health standards that is enforceable under Nigerian safety law.
OUR QUESTIONS ARE:
Send us a mail at info@ohsm.com.ng
The bill sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu which was committed to the senate committees on Labour, Health seeks amongst other things to ensure that employers of labour are properly protected.
The highlights of the Bill are as follow:
• To make further provisions for securing the safety, health and welfare of persons at work;
• To make provisions for protecting others against risks to safety or health in connection with the activities of persons at work;
• To establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health to create a general framework for the improvement of working conditions and the working environment;
• To prevent accidents and departures from health arising out of or in the course of work;
• To ensure the provision of occupational safety and health services to workers in all sectors of economic activity.
The bill is also to establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health Hazards and for related issues with the following functions:
• To ensure employee safety and health in Nigeria by working with employers and employees to create better working environments;
• To act as a regulatory agency by issuing safety and health standards that is enforceable under Nigerian safety law.
OUR QUESTIONS ARE:
- Do you think the content of this bill is rich enough to guaranty both the safety and health of the Nigerian worker and security for the employer?
- What are those crucial contents you feel ought to have been included bot no there presently?
Send us a mail at info@ohsm.com.ng
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
DOWNSIDE OF SITTING ON OUR BACKSIDES
Risks of sitting too long
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, trips to the gym, lunch hour walks - the value of exercise is understood by both individuals and organizations. What may not be as well known are the health risks of sitting for long periods at a time - regardless of how much you exercise.
How working in a sitting position can affect your health
Those who must spend long periods in a seated position on the job such as taxi drivers, call centre professionals and office workers, are at risk for injury and a variety of adverse health effects.
The most common injuries occur in the muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments, affecting the neck and lower back regions. Prolonged sitting:
- Reduces body movement making muscles more likely to pull, cramp or strain when stretched suddenly
- Causes fatigue in the back and neck muscles by slowing the blood supply and puts high tension on the spine, especially in the low back or neck
- Causes a steady compression on the spinal discs that hinders their nutrition and can contribute to their premature degeneration.
Sedentary employees may also face a gradual deterioration in health if they do not exercise or do not lead an otherwise physically active life. The most common health problems that these employees experience are disorders in blood circulation and injuries affecting their ability to move. Deep Veinous Thrombosis (DVT), where a clot forms in a large vein after prolonged sitting, sometimes called "Traveller's Thrombosis" because it is sometimes observed after a long flight, is also a risk.
Employees, who for years spend most of their working time seated, may experience other, less specific adverse health effects. Decreased fitness, reduced heart and lung efficiency, and digestive problems are common. Recent research has identified too much sitting as an important part of the physical activity and health equation, and suggests we should focus on the harm caused by daily inactivity such as prolonged sitting.
Data collected in a 1990's Australian study on the prevalence of diabetes and its risk factors was further analysed by a team led by associate professor David Dunstan to determine whether people's television viewing time was related to their metabolic health. Results showed that people who watched television for long periods of time (more than four hours a day), were at risk of:
- Higher blood levels of sugar and fats
- Larger waistlines, and
- Higher risk of metabolic syndrome
- Regardless of how much moderate to vigorous exercise they had.
In addition, people who interrupted their sitting time more often just by standing or with light activities such as housework, shopping, and moving about the office had healthier blood sugar and fat levels, and smaller waistlines than those whose sitting time was not broken up.
What does this mean for workers?
Injuries resulting from sitting for long periods are a serious occupational health and safety problem and are expected to become more common with the continuing trend toward work in a sitting position. An important step is to recognize that prolonged sitting can be a health risk, and that efforts must be made to design jobs that help people reduce and break up their sitting time.
How can you design a job that requires prolonged sitting?
The main objective of a job design for a seated employee is to reduce the amount of time the person spends "just" sitting. Frequent changes in the sitting position are not enough to protect against blood pooling in the legs or to prevent other injuries.
Five minutes of a more vigorous activity, such as walking for every 40 to 50 minutes of sitting, can provide protection. These breaks are also beneficial because they give the heart, lungs and muscles some exercise to help counterbalance the effects of sitting for prolonged periods in a relatively fixed position. Where practical, jobs should incorporate "activity breaks" such as work-related tasks away from the desk or simple exercises which employees can carry out at the workstation or worksite.
Another important aspect of job design is consulting with and getting feedback from employees. No matter how good the workplace and the job designs, there are always aspects of the job that can and must be tailored to the individual.
The bottom line: stand up, move around and get off your backside as frequently as you possibly can. But understand that physical activity is just one part of the equation for preventing the harmful effects of prolonged sitting. Other important factors include chair selection, workstation design and training.
Courtesy: CCOSH
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
WHAT ARE WORKPLACE MSD AND FIRE
Workplace pains and strains are also known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD) and Repetitive Motion Injury (RMI). These types of injuries affect the muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves.
MSDs develop as a result of the effects of repetitive, forceful or awkward movements on bones, joints, ligaments and other soft tissues. Workers may experience symptoms such as discomfort, pain, numbness, tingling, weakness and restricted movements.
MSD is not a medical diagnosis; it is an umbrella term for a group of injuries. Some of these injuries include:
• Back Pain (low back strain, etc)
• Muscle Strain
• Tendonitis
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
• Rotator Cuff Syndrome
• Tennis Elbow (epicondylitis)
• Shoulder Pain (shoulder myalgia)
Workers are more likely to suffer an MSD if they perform jobs with MSD risk factors that include repetitive movements, forceful efforts, and fixed or awkward postures.
Why should you be concerned about workplace pains and strains?
Workplace pains and strains can be serious and disabling for workers, causing pain and suffering ranging from discomfort to severe disability. The consequences are far reaching and can affect every aspect of a worker's life.
Workplace pains and strains can be prevented!
There is a strong link between exposure to the work-related risk factors for MSD and the development of these disorders.
These injuries can be prevented! Taking appropriate steps to eliminate, or reduce the exposure to the work-related risk factors, will minimize the risk of MSDs in the workplace.
MSD prevention can be simple and inexpensive. Often making straight-forward and basic changes can reduce MSD risks significantly.
Prevention is good business
As with almost all health and safety issues it is less expensive to prevent an injury than it is to make changes and corrections after an injury has occurred. Don’t wait for an MSD to happen. Taking proactive steps now to reduce your workers’ exposure to MSD risk factors will pay off in the future.
Having a program to prevent MSDs has been shown to have many positive outcomes:
• Healthy workers, who are free from discomfort, are more efficient
• Reduced WSIB lost-time injury claims and the associated direct and indirect costs
• Improved ability to bring workers back to work if they have been injured
• Less strenuous and more straight-forward job tasks makes it easier to train and place workers
• Improved ability to retain experienced, knowledgeable and skilled workers
• Improved employee satisfaction, morale and well-being
• Reduced administrative costs related to claims management and investigations
• Increased quality, productivity and profits
Preventive steps for employers
Regardless of whether or not workers have reported MSD symptoms, or whether or not they have filed WSIB claims, MSD prevention needs to be a key part of a workplace health and safety program. MSD risk factors should be handled like any other workplace hazard. Employers should:
• Advise and train workers about the MSD risk factors in their job and in the workplace
• Encourage workers to participate in the health and safety program through early reporting of MSD symptoms or concerns
• Identify and assess job related MSD risk factors
• Put in place controls to reduce workers’ exposure to MSD risk factors
• Follow-up to make sure preventive measures are working
Workplace pains and strains and the law
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) requires employers to ensure that workers are aware of the hazards associated with the workers’ job and workplace, and that controls are implemented to reduce the risk of injury from these hazards. MSD risk factors in the workplace must be treated the same as any other workplace hazard.
Emergencies : Fire
When there’s a fire inside your building, you need to get out immediately! Since smoke from a fire can make it difficult to see, it’s important to know the best way to exit the building. How do you know this? You should have a plan before a fire even happens. Here’s how to be prepared before a fire:
• Have a plan and practice it. This plan should include fire drills. A fire drill can help you practice leaving your building quickly and safely. Don’t forget to talk about different ways you can get out. Learn more about having a disaster plan.
During a fire, you should do the following:
• Use a fire extinguisher to put out small fires. You can also use water if the fire is not electrical or chemical. Do NOT try to put out a fire that you can’t control.
• If there’s a fire that is too big to put out, leave the building immediately. You might not have much time before the fire spreads, so don’t even stop to call 911. Once you’re outside and safe, you can use a cell phone or a neighbor’s phone to call.
• If your clothes catch fire, do NOT run. This could make the fire spread more quickly. Instead, stop, drop, and roll! In other words, stop, drop to the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll back and forth until the fire is put out.
• If there is smoke in your house, cover your nose and mouth with a small cloth and stay low to the ground as you’re leaving. Smoke is very dangerous to breathe and difficult to see through. Since smoke naturally rises, you should crawl on your hands and knees to exit the building.
MSDs develop as a result of the effects of repetitive, forceful or awkward movements on bones, joints, ligaments and other soft tissues. Workers may experience symptoms such as discomfort, pain, numbness, tingling, weakness and restricted movements.
MSD is not a medical diagnosis; it is an umbrella term for a group of injuries. Some of these injuries include:
• Back Pain (low back strain, etc)
• Muscle Strain
• Tendonitis
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
• Rotator Cuff Syndrome
• Tennis Elbow (epicondylitis)
• Shoulder Pain (shoulder myalgia)
Workers are more likely to suffer an MSD if they perform jobs with MSD risk factors that include repetitive movements, forceful efforts, and fixed or awkward postures.
Why should you be concerned about workplace pains and strains?
Workplace pains and strains can be serious and disabling for workers, causing pain and suffering ranging from discomfort to severe disability. The consequences are far reaching and can affect every aspect of a worker's life.
Workplace pains and strains can be prevented!
There is a strong link between exposure to the work-related risk factors for MSD and the development of these disorders.
These injuries can be prevented! Taking appropriate steps to eliminate, or reduce the exposure to the work-related risk factors, will minimize the risk of MSDs in the workplace.
MSD prevention can be simple and inexpensive. Often making straight-forward and basic changes can reduce MSD risks significantly.
Prevention is good business
As with almost all health and safety issues it is less expensive to prevent an injury than it is to make changes and corrections after an injury has occurred. Don’t wait for an MSD to happen. Taking proactive steps now to reduce your workers’ exposure to MSD risk factors will pay off in the future.
Having a program to prevent MSDs has been shown to have many positive outcomes:
• Healthy workers, who are free from discomfort, are more efficient
• Reduced WSIB lost-time injury claims and the associated direct and indirect costs
• Improved ability to bring workers back to work if they have been injured
• Less strenuous and more straight-forward job tasks makes it easier to train and place workers
• Improved ability to retain experienced, knowledgeable and skilled workers
• Improved employee satisfaction, morale and well-being
• Reduced administrative costs related to claims management and investigations
• Increased quality, productivity and profits
Preventive steps for employers
Regardless of whether or not workers have reported MSD symptoms, or whether or not they have filed WSIB claims, MSD prevention needs to be a key part of a workplace health and safety program. MSD risk factors should be handled like any other workplace hazard. Employers should:
• Advise and train workers about the MSD risk factors in their job and in the workplace
• Encourage workers to participate in the health and safety program through early reporting of MSD symptoms or concerns
• Identify and assess job related MSD risk factors
• Put in place controls to reduce workers’ exposure to MSD risk factors
• Follow-up to make sure preventive measures are working
Workplace pains and strains and the law
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) requires employers to ensure that workers are aware of the hazards associated with the workers’ job and workplace, and that controls are implemented to reduce the risk of injury from these hazards. MSD risk factors in the workplace must be treated the same as any other workplace hazard.
Emergencies : Fire
When there’s a fire inside your building, you need to get out immediately! Since smoke from a fire can make it difficult to see, it’s important to know the best way to exit the building. How do you know this? You should have a plan before a fire even happens. Here’s how to be prepared before a fire:
• Have a plan and practice it. This plan should include fire drills. A fire drill can help you practice leaving your building quickly and safely. Don’t forget to talk about different ways you can get out. Learn more about having a disaster plan.
During a fire, you should do the following:
• Use a fire extinguisher to put out small fires. You can also use water if the fire is not electrical or chemical. Do NOT try to put out a fire that you can’t control.
• If there’s a fire that is too big to put out, leave the building immediately. You might not have much time before the fire spreads, so don’t even stop to call 911. Once you’re outside and safe, you can use a cell phone or a neighbor’s phone to call.
• If your clothes catch fire, do NOT run. This could make the fire spread more quickly. Instead, stop, drop, and roll! In other words, stop, drop to the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll back and forth until the fire is put out.
• If there is smoke in your house, cover your nose and mouth with a small cloth and stay low to the ground as you’re leaving. Smoke is very dangerous to breathe and difficult to see through. Since smoke naturally rises, you should crawl on your hands and knees to exit the building.
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