Groups discuss occupational safety, health

Five years after the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), businesses still have time to put their houses in order before the OSH Act of 2017 becomes operationalized.

For two days this week, 35 participants from 10 companies/organizations across SVG gathered at the Sunset Shores Hotel conference room to participate in a “Workplace Safety and Health Conversation Series” hosted by safety company, Jaric St Vincent Ltd, a subsidiary of the Jaric Group of Companies.

The series, which will take place on two days each month for six consecutive months will discuss the following:

Understanding and Implementing the OSH Act 2017; Establishing Managing Effective Safety Committees; Conducting and Documenting Risk Assessments; Understanding and Implementing Safety Management Systems (ISO 45001); Emergency Response and Incident Command and Towards Zero Accidents – Developing; and Maintaining a Positive Safety Culture.

The month’s conversation took place on September 28 and 29.

Safety and health expert, Eric Kipps of Jaric St Vincent Ltd said small companies that do not require specialized intervention can also use the information from the series to develop and implement a safety programme within their organization.

He said the workplace safety conversations are designed and presented in workshop format to provide organizations with the necessary knowledge and tools required to effectively implement and manage health and safety in the workplace.

Kipps believes that the Act of 2017 will eventually become operationalized in SVG and when it does, will place a duty of care on employers to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment.

He believes also that companies which have been proactive in their efforts to meet the requirements stipulated in the legislation will experience a smoother and less expensive transition.

The expert underscored the importance of having such conversations at this time, saying there is no time like the present to think about safety, as accidents can have a disastrous impact on a company.

He also said that the workshop is designed for persons with leadership responsibilities to get the training needed to implement the Occupational Safety and Health Act (2017) within their organizations.

Businesses/Organizations can participate in all the remaining series or selected series and those interested in doing so may email info@jaricesh.com or call 434-3193 for more information.