Three-day training in Kragujevac

Serbian Association for occupational safety and health within the activities of the project “Increasing capacities and strengthening of the role of the regional CSOs for improvement of the labor conditions and dialogue with public institutions”, held three-day training in the period from 24-26.10.2017. in Kragujevac.
The training was held during the European Week for Safety and Health at Work. Sustainable work and healthy ageing were the main inspiration themes of this year´s European Week for Safety and Health at Work. Hundreds of creative events were taking place between 23 and 27 October across Europe. Activities were initiated by EU-OSHA’s national focal points, official campaign partners and campaign media partners, and many other organisations and national institutions.
The conference within the European Week for Safety and Health at Work in Serbia was held on October 25th, in the Palace of Serbia on the topic “Safety and health at work in dual education”.
The training within project primarily aimed at establishing cooperation between civil society organizations, media organizations, public institutions, in order to improve working conditions.
The trainers were:
Prof. Dr Slobodan Moraca, Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, expert Mr. Gyorgy Karoly, National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions (EU-OSHA), expert Mr. Malcolm McIntyre, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), regional media expert, Mr. Bojan Kordalov, and regional expert for strategic planning, lobbying and advocacy Mr. Mario Veljkovik.
During the lecture held by prof. Dr. Slobodan Moraca through the prism of national legislation he highlighted the key aspects of establishing an effective system of safety and health at work, guidelines, obligations, methodologies and responsibilities of all participants in the system of safety and health at work.
He emphasized that it is necessary to promote cooperation between individuals, representatives of safety structures and groups of workers in a way that safety and health at work become a collaborative effort.
According to his words, the basic directions of management can be classified into three thematic areas:
• Policy formulation and development – this includes identifying key objectives and reviewing progress with respect to them;
• Planning, measuring, reviewing and assessing risks in accordance with legal norms and recommendations for minimizing risk;
• Ensuring effective implementation of plans and reporting on the performance of the safety and health system at work.
When it comes to hazards at work, examples from practice are numerous, but what is somehow always neglected and not negligible are psychosocial risks, which are primarily professional stress and poor interpersonal relationships within the collective, which greatly affect development of work-related illnesses.
Prof. Dr Slobodan Moraca said that better management of processes, quality, and the like. leads to cost savings, increased efficiency and effectiveness, a greater degree of customer satisfaction, which is the basis for achieving higher profits.
Representative of National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions Mr. Károly György, introduced the Directive 89/391 /EEC,
the European Strategy for Safety and Health at work 2014-2020, the role of the European Social Dialogue in terms of improving working conditions and examples of good practice.
He said that 23% of workers in Europe believe that their safety and health at work is at risk due to their work – a sign of non-improvement of working conditions.
A large number of workers lodge complaints about the effects of their work and this affects their psychosocial health.
The situation at work can also lead to a tragedy that has been evidenced by the wave of suicides that some French companies have encountered in recent times, said Mr. Károly.
New forms of work organization and increased time pressure as well as intensity of work are the main cause of stress at work and musculoskeletal disorders.
Less qualified labor and workers performing manual jobs are most exposed. The expectation of a healthy life of 35-year-old workers deployed on manual jobs is ten times less than a manager.
He also presented the basic principles of the Framework Directive 89/391, obligations of the employer, the obligations of employees as well as the basic principles of prevention which represent foundation for the basis of safe and healthy business.
In order to better address the many issues in the field of basics of safety and health at work, it is necessary to network all relevant institutions in cooperation with the CSOs and establish a regional partnership with civil society organizations, public institutions and the media. The regional PR and media expert Mr. Bojan Kordalov presented the mechanisms and activities of PR and investigative journalism that can lead to a greater presence of occupational health and safety in the media, but not only in the context of accidents at work and their causes, but also good industrial practices that can be guidelines for more efficient business from the aspect of safety and health at work.

Regional expert Mr. Mario Veljkovik presented strategic planning as part of strategic management, ways of lobbying and advocacy, strengthening the alliance building and networking of CSOs as well as insight at the national and regional level.
Mr. Mario Veljkovik presented the ways of functioning of the networks, the plan for establish network and strategic partnership.
He emphasized the importance of having an organizational identity such as the mission, vision and value of each organization, effective and effective management and availability of resources, interactions and relationships between civil society organizations and their external context (including the institutional framework).
There is little talk about cancer at work. It is most often put in the context of a tragedy for the individual, the challenge of the medical profession, the consequence of smoking and poor nutrition. But in at least one of ten cases – and probably much more – is the result of preventative, predictable exposure in the workplace. At work, we are confronted with the rapid development of methods and processes, and all these methods, processes are poorly considered from the aspect of health consequences that will be faced society, employees, the whole community – the working generation.
Today’s exposure to cancer can cause cancer at least two decades later, and this is a problem that most often does not cause an alert to corporate executives.

But no more. IOSH’s “No Time to Lose” campaign aims to better understand the causes of cancer at work, recognize it and thus help entrepreneurs to take the necessary steps to reduce exposure to cancer in their workplaces. Therefore, through counseling, training and joint actions at the workplace, at the national and international level, the campaign also has aim to ensure that professional diseases are not a forgotten item on the “cost-effectiveness book”.

Mr. Malcom McIntyre (IOSH) stated that are launched three phases of the No Time to Lose campaign so far. These are diesel engine exhaust emissions, solar radiation and silica dust.
During third day of training he presented campaign SOLAR RADIATION.
Mr. Malcom McIntyre stated that at least 742,000 people die every year from a work-related cancer – more than one death every minute and according to European estimate 102,500 deaths a year are caused by work-related cancer.

No Time to Lose campaign aims to:
• raises awareness of the importance of health problems faced by employees
• Through practical materials to help establish effective prevention programs.
• Suggest solutions for a particular problem
He stated that the key point is prevention throught:
• Avoiding it
• Working in the shade
• Avoiding outdoor work around the hours of solar noon
• Checking the UV index to see what sort of exposure there is on that day
• Covering up with protective clothing
• Wearing sunglasses to stop UV exposure to the eye and make sure that they are certified as being UV protection
• Working in rotation
• Taking breaks in the shade
• Wearing sun protection
• Checking your skin for signs of UV damage

CONCLUSIONS::
During trainings and interactive participation of all target groups, the following was concluded:
1.The need to establish an inclusive and transparent process of analysis of the social policy system open to all actors and geared towards the development of global goals.
2. Diversification of actors and stakeholders in the process of achieving improvement of the environment for better and safer business is recognized. In this context, the need for a full and effective participation of all, and especially social partners, in the global decision-making process is confirmed. It is necessary to strengthen the roles and decision-making within the framework of social dialogue at all levels, especially within the Safety and Health at Work Council of the Republic of Serbia and Social and economic council of the Republic of Serbia.
3.One of the priority goals is among other things, raising the awareness of all the subjects of the system about the importance of safe and healthy working conditions, as well as the development of a general and business culture, that is, a national culture of prevention in the field of safety and health at work.
4. From previous discussions and discussions, it has been confirmed that there are a sufficient number of legal and other norms regulating the exercise of rights deriving from employment, and above all in the field of occupational safety and health. However, there are numerous problems primarily in the sphere of application of these regulations, that is, in the implemented control mechanism, which basically do not provide for the implementation of legal regulations. Numerous problems that directly or indirectly affect the legality of work arise due to the large number of outstanding issues in the functioning of the inspection system as a whole.

5.Necessity of developing a program of continuous education in the field of occupational safety and health, for: employers, representatives of employees and persons for safety and health at work.
6.Raising awareness of the importance of health and safety at work in all forms of education: basic, secondary and higher education and education, and in particular in dual education and adult education.
7. Encouraging scientific and research work in the area of safety and health at work that has been neglected for many years. From this aspect, support the initiative of the new role of scientific and higher education in the field of occupational health and safety;
8.Promotion of prevention culture and examples of good practice in the field of occupational safety and health at all levels of organization of employers, employees, educational institutions and the state (association for employers, trade unions, labor inspection, education, pension and disability insurance and health insurance funds, etc.).
After training all the participants got certificate of successful implemented training.

Posted in NEWS, REPORTS.