World OSH Day in conjunction with Labour Day 2009

NIOSH wishes to remind both employers and employees to regard occupational safety and health as a human right issue.

The right to work in a safe and healthy environment, free from accidents is also the fundamental right of every employee.

Employees and workers have a fundamental right to safety and also have an obligation to work safely too.

The theme for WORLD OSH DAY 2009 is “HEALTH & LIFE AT WORK – A Basic Human Right.”

Lee Lam Thye said this when commenting on Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak speech today (2/5/2009) in conjunction with HARI PEKERJA 2009 in Bukit Jalil.

Preserving human health is a key objective of social security, promoting and creating a safety and health culture can save lives and reduce costs to society.

NIOSH is proud to play its role to promote the right to productive work in conditions of human dignity, safety and health.

All workers are entitled to safe and healthy working conditions, as articulated in international human rights instruments, regardless of whether they be involved in fieldwork, in the office or other workplace settings.

It is essential for employers and employees to be fully committed to workplace safety. The government, employers and employees must be committed to achieving a work culture that ensures safety and health. It must be emphasized that there should be no compromise on safety and health at the workplace.

Increasingly, the promotion of safer conditions in the workplace is based on promoting a culture of risk and accidents prevention which can improve the health of workers and the productivity of the enterprise.

The overall responsibility for providing a safe and healthy working environment rests with the employers who should demonstrate their commitment to OSH.

This can be done by building and maintaining a preventive safety and health culture that address the principles of prevention, hazard identification, risk assessment and control, information and training, while workers have a duty to cooperate with the employer in implementing this OSH programme.