OSCAR FERNANDES STRESSES ON YOGA AND MEDITATION FOR STRESS MANAGEMENT
Mumbai,28 Apr:The year 2008 has been declared as the “Year of Industrial Safety and Health” by the Government of India. This was announced by the Minister for Labour and Employment Shri Oscar Fernandes at the “National Seminar on Industrial Safety and Health – Vision 2020 : Challenges and Strategies” held here today. It also coincides with successful completion of sixty years of promulgation and implementation of the Factories Act, 1948. The National Seminar has been organized by the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) Mumbai, an apex body of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that April 28th also being the International Safety Day, the day of inauguration of celebration for observing Year 2008 as the Year of Industrial Safety and Health is a new beginning and a measure of commitment to ensure safety and health to all the industrial workers.
The Minister said that the present working environment in industries results in lot of physical, physiological and mental stress and strain which underlines the need for preventing and controlling them among industrial workers. Therefore, he suggested that lifestyle management interventions, like physical exercises, yoga classes, meditation techniques and sports related activities should be carried out on regular basis as a part of stress management. He said that these facilities should be made available in the premises of the industries as well as the colonies of the workers to ensure that all the workers can utilize them.
Shri Fernandes said that safety aspects should be given the top most priority while setting up any industrial unit and emphasized that we should develop a particular work culture which is conducive to safety measures. He said that every industry should deliberate on health and safety measures whenever they celebrate their annual day or the festivals like Dussehara and Deepawali. It is imperative to make safety an integral component of the industry and this should become part of our culture, the Minister emphasized.
Shri Fernandes said that it should be ensured that workers who are deployed on the specific jobs, are fully trained and well versed with their machine and equipment. The Minister also emphasized that workers should be fully involved while working out the safety plans for any industrial unit. Elaborating further, he said even the ‘last man in the factory’ could give the best advice on how to avoid accidents.
The Minister said that the insurance agencies and industries are required to actively cooperate with each other in devising latest safety management system. He said that a technical division for Risk Management in industries to aid risk insurance policy decisions and assisting industries in risk reduction with a view to reduce payable insurance premium is proposed to be created in DGFASLI as there is no such activity exist in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary Labour and Employment Smt. Sudha Pillai said that her Ministry has been taking up a number of steps from time to time so that the legislation pertaining to safety and health is kept abreast with the developments taking place in the field. She said that comprehensive amendments to the Factories Act, 1948 have been taken up and are also under the active consideration of the Government. The Ministry of Labour is also making serious efforts to ratify some of the important ILO conventions related to occupational safety and health. Some of the conventions are even in an advance stage of ratification by the Government, she informed.
Smt. Pillai said that we have to redraft our vision and formulate various strategies and measures to meet the new challenges and concerted efforts should be made by all the stakeholders including the government to address various challenges on the issues relating to safety and health.
Dr. J.P. Gupta, Professor, IIT, Kanpur delivered the Key-Note Address. Some Posters depicting various aspects of the safety were also released on the occasion by Shri Oscar Fernandes. He also released the Special Issue of the INDOSHNEWS, a Quarterly Journals of DGFASLI.