New Delhi,29 Apr:Industrial Safety and health should be made part of secondary education curriculum at school level and the diploma and graduate courses in engineering discipline should have compulsory subject on industrial safety. In addition, the occupational health should be made as a compulsory subject in graduate courses in medicine. Post –graduate course and Doctoral course on Industrial Safety and Health should be carried out at the academic institutions.
These are amongst the recommendations of an Expert Group constituted at the National Seminar on Industrial Safety and Health – Vision 2020 organized by the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institute (DGFASLI), an apex body of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Group also recommended that occupational Health should be integrated with Public Health Services and also called for updating the list of occupational Diseases. It said that the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institute (DGFASLI) should actively be involved in all the above endeavours and it should work with the concerned Institutes and Academic Bodies to formulate the course curricula and modules etc.
Another significant recommendation said that specific research studies and surveys should be undertaken with regard to the issues relating to the working women’s health as a large number of women are employed in high tech industries and there are specific health problems concerning their reproductive health particular to these industries.
It also recommended that Studies should be conducted on safety and health among software industry employees. It said that Safety and Health studies in sunrise industry – IT & ITES industries should be carried out and the DGFASLI should help carrying out these studies. Collaborative research work with different educational institutions, preparation of Industry specific training modules to meet the future needs and Networking of Safety Professionals and Institutions through website, etc are some other tasks for DGFASLI recommended by the Expert Group. Another recommendation of the Seminar is that the Factory Inspectors should be given training on matters connected with latest developments in the field of industrial safety. It also recommended that training in the safety aspects should be imparted to all workers, contract labourers, supervisors and managers. The Seminar also recommended that insurance aspects of accident prevention should also be looked into.