GEISHA KOW­LESSAR-ALON­ZO

geisha.kow­lessar@guardian.co.tt

The In­ter­na­tion­al Labour Or­gan­i­sa­tion (ILO) has re­leased a new tool on safe­ty and health for de­ci­sion mak­ers in the world of work to con­front COVID-19.

In a state­ment is­sued it said the ten 10 steps are de­signed of re­turn strate­gies for of­fices, fac­to­ries and all kinds of work­places in Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean that are faced with the pro­gres­sive lift­ing of mea­sures.

The ILO’s re­gion­al di­rec­tor for Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean, Viní­cius Pin­heiro not­ed that oc­cu­pa­tion­al safe­ty and health must have the high­est pri­or­i­ty.

“We must get used to the idea that the work­place will no longer be the same and that it will be in this sce­nario where a de­ci­sive bat­tle against the pan­dem­ic will be waged,” he ad­vised.

He said oc­cu­pa­tion­al safe­ty and health must be con­sid­ered as a fun­da­men­tal in­vest­ment to pro­tect work­ers and their fam­i­lies and to en­sure the con­ti­nu­ity of com­pa­nies,” adding that it is one of the keys to re­ac­ti­vat­ing pro­duc­tion with de­cent work and for rec­on­cil­ing the ob­jec­tives of con­tain­ing the pan­dem­ic and eco­nom­ic re­cov­ery.

The ILO said the guide is aimed at em­ploy­ers and their rep­re­sen­ta­tives, work­ers and their rep­re­sen­ta­tives, joint safe­ty and health com­mit­tees, oc­cu­pa­tion­al safe­ty and health pro­fes­sion­als and re­lat­ed in­sti­tu­tions and or­ga­ni­za­tions, among oth­ers.

The ob­jec­tives of the tool are to sup­port the adop­tion of pre­ven­tive mea­sures in the work­place against the risk of con­ta­gion of COVID-19 and oth­er risks as­so­ci­at­ed with the pan­dem­ic, en­cour­age so­cial di­a­logue on the sub­ject, and pro­mote good prac­tices to de­vel­op oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safe­ty pro­to­cols, the ILO said.