The Labour & Human Resource Department organised a conference on Vision Zero on Wednesday with support of German development agency GIZ.

Labour & HR Department Additional Secretary Dr Sohail Shahzad welcomed the participants for the event and highlighted the framework of occupational safety and health in the light of priority area of the government. He introduced the relationship of this event with concept of improved governance. He appreciated that the role of GIZ, CIWC, Labour Welfare director general and Punjab Employees Social Security Institution in bringing commitment to introduce Vision Zero as a guiding principle for the safety of workers.

Labour & HR Secretary Sarah Aslam was the chief guest of the event. While addressing the audience, she emphasised that this conference would be a milestone for the government’s efforts to implement a culture of prevention and accident free working environment for employees across Pakistan.

“The Labour & HR Department is focusing on Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) as a future strategy to improve compliance of labour standards to increase profitability of business in Pakistan. On April 28, 2018, the Labour Department had organised Punjab’s first dedicated International Conference on OSH in Lahore and this large-scale conference demonstrated the commitment of the Labour Department to occupational safety,” she said.

She further noted, “Safe and healthy working conditions are not only a legal and moral obligation but they also pay off economically. The concept behind Vision Zero is a transformational approach to prevention that integrates the three dimensions of safety, health and well-being worker at all levels of work.”

The labour secretary appreciated the efforts of Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions & Environment (CIWCE) for organising another event emphasising the importance of looking after workers and employer reputations globally with the support of Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Rao Nasir Mahmood, director, presented the way forward, “GIZ’s Labour Standards Programme is working closely with CIWCE to help in improving labour standards for workers and educating employers to improve workplaces,” he said.

“By adopting ISSA’s seven golden rules of Vision Zero, we can control and reduce number of accidents, increase retention of workers, maximise worker’s productivity and prevention from occupational diseases and hazards,” he claimed.

GIZ Principal Adviser Romina Kochius stated that it was a great honour to host these international guests and learn from best practices on OSH.

The ISSA’s Vision Zero concept is flexible and can be adjusted to the specific safety, health or well-being priorities for prevention in any given context.

All training and awareness material is available at CWICE. This conference is the first one among many other that focussed on the topic of preventing accidents in workplace.

Key guests and topics discussed included Vision Zero Explained, Senior Technical Specialist in Prevention, International Social Security Association (ISSA) Geneva, Switzerland, Vision Zero in Action, Vision Technologies and Vision Zero Internationally.