DOLE-7 trains workers to enforce safety protocols in workplaces

CEBU, Philippines —  More safety officers were trained to help the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Central Visayas in implementing the Occupational Safety and Health Program (OSHP) in the workplace.

The agency conducted an online training for 60 workers from the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and from those employing less than fifty workers on Basic Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH).

DOLE-7 Regional Director Salome Siaton said the free training was one of the agency’s ways of recognizing their essential contributions in reviving the economic activities of the region amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The more workers trained to become safety officers, the more individuals there will be to help appropriately implement the OSHP of each company,” she said.

Siaton said the agency has been promoting safety and health as top priority in every workplace.

Moreover, DOLE has invited industrial hygienists, occupational safety and health professionals, and professionals in the fields of chemistry, engineering, acoustics, ergonomics, human factors, and biosafety to avail of the free 40-hour Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene (IH) training on May 31-June 4, 2021.

The online training by the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), an attached agency of the DOLE, is open to those who have completed the 40-hour Basic Occupational Safety and Health or Construction Safety and Health Training.

“We hope to capacitate more workers to become qualified industrial hygienists so they can help their companies implement sound programs on industrial hygiene and ensure that their work environments are safe and healthy,” OSHC Executive Director Noel Binag said in a statement.

DOLE said the five-day training workshop is an introductory course outlining the broad principles of industrial hygiene as the basis for anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling various health hazards that may be present in the working environment.

It will also feature discussions on related laws and regulations, human physiology and toxicology, chemicals, hazard recognition, confined spaces, indoor air quality, ventilation, and IH programming. — KQD (FREEMAN)