Cross-sector meeting held by Serbian Association for occupational safety and health on 01.03.2017. as a part of the project „Increasing capacities and strengthening the role of CSOs for improving labour conditions and labour dialogue with public institutions² primarily aimed to establish cooperation between public institutions and civil society organizations.
Participation took representatives Serbian Association of employers – Sector of preventive engineering, media organizations, OSH CSOs, Certified OSH companies, experts of occupational medicine, occupational safety and health officers as well as other OSH experts. The total number of participants is 25.
Framework topics
This activity primarily aims for networking and establishing cooperation between occupational safety and health officers, managers for occupational safety and health, employers, media organizations and OSH CSOs in order to exchange experiences and identify the key causes of the large number of occupational injuries, deaths, occupational diseases, the existing legal framework and its application in practice.
Participants had the opportunity to exchange their views on OSH system and present their proposals during the discussion.
Participants discuss about challenges that employers face in the sphere of implementation of the OSH Law and other regulations who covering directly essential aspects of OSH. They pointed out that is necessary to work on education in OSH field (OSH trainings) and stressed the importance of organizing round tables, meetings and conferences in order to conduct common consideration of the existing OSH situation and propose concrete solutions both in terms of legislation and in terms of the application of good practices that should contribute to reducing the number of injuries at work and occupational diseases especially in those critical industries such as construction, industry, mining, machinery, chemicals, etc.
In the introductory part of the meeting the President of the Serbian Association for occupational safety and health, Mr. Dragoslav Tomovic presented the OSH analysis from the perspective of Serbian Association for occupational safety and health.
He presented the existing legislative framework and the implementation of laws and regulations, problems faced by small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs), the importance of continuous education, economic aspects of OSH system and existing structure of business in OSH sphere.
Representatives of the Serbian Association of employers – Sector of preventive engineering discuss and express deep concern about high unemployment and underemployment, particularly among young people, and recognize the need for sustainable development strategies that are actively engaged in the recruitment of young people at all levels. In this regard, we recognize the need to create a global strategy for youth employment.
In this context, it is recognized the very high level of employment of pensioners in Certified OSH companies, and very often they are holders of the basic license for work.
During the discussion, President of the Association for Safety and Health at Work of Rasina District, Mr. Branko Radonjic is based on years of experience in the OSH, presented his view on the current OSH situation, on the implementation of laws and regulations, obligations of employers, experience in practice regarding the implementation of laws and regulations, the work of relevant institutions etc.
From the previously exposed we can say that there is a sufficient number of legal and other norms regulating the realization of labor rights, especially in the field of safety and health at work. However, numerous problems are primarily in the area of application of these regulations, ie in the completion of the control mechanism, which basically does not ensure the implementation of legislation. Many problems that directly or indirectly affect the legality of the work arise due to the large number of outstanding issues in the functioning of the inspection system as a whole.
Participants agreed that is necessary to:
- develop guidelines and identify examples of good practice, taking into account the specific nature and requirements of the small and medium, especially in micro-enterprises (SMEs);
- provide financial and technical support for the introduction of tools for Risk Assessment and other IT tools with a focus on priority sectors;
- promote the exchange of good practice, where SMEs get the support of system in order to improve the overall culture and raising awareness for the implementation of the measures of safety and health at work;
- assess the situation of micro-enterprises in sectors with low risk and avoid the now present administrative barriers (to simplify the legal framework, risk assessment, including the necessary normative documents).
It is recognized the diversification of actors and stakeholders in the process of improving the environment for achieving a better and safer business. In this context, we acknowledge the continuing need for the full and effective participation of all, especially the social partners, in global decision-making process.
It is necessary to establish cooperation at all levels, local, national and regional in order to establish guidelines for further action in the field of safety and health at work and greater involvement of civil society in the decision-making process by giving their proposals, opinions and research.
