Millions of workers across Europe frequently come into contact with dangerous substances in the workplace, and the use of such substances is increasing. This exposure can have negative effects on workers’ health and their ability to work in the long term, so prevention is extremely important.
Between 21 and 25 October 2019, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and its network of partners, including Kosovo, through a series of activities marked the European Week for Safety and Health at Work. This campaign aims to raise awareness of workplace safety and health and promotes active and participative risk prevention. This year’s European Week focus was the Management of Dangers substances.
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, and Labor Inspectorate, supported by the European Union funded project “Support to Labor Inspectorate in fighting undeclared work”, organized a series of activities to mark this week.
Kosovo concluded the European Week in Pristina with a conference where occupational safety and health (OSH) expert tackled issues such as implementation of EU directives and the risk from dangerous substances in workplaces.
Opening the conference, Dardan Sadriu from the European Office in Kosovo, highlighted the importance of such campaigns. “Investment in the safe and health at work is beneficial for workers and businesses,” he said.
Whereas, Valon Leci, Acting Head of Labor Inspectorate emphasized the importance of health and safety and pledged that Labor Inspectors will be strict in implementing the applicable law and Administrative Instructions which ensure health and safe environment for workers.
On the other hand, Mr. Ivars Vanadzins, Director of Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health in Latvia and Ms. Linda Matisane from the Latvian State Labor Inspectorate, were among the key note speakers of this conference. They discussed with representatives of businesses, labor inspectors, OSH Experts and civil society organizations about the legal framework that regulates health and safety at workplaces and good practices in preventing workplace risk factors.
Within this campaign, Kosovo also organized its first national Good Practice Award competition, a competition that aims to recognize outstanding and innovative contributions to workplace safety and health and to inspire other companies to improve working conditions and raise work ability of their workers.
In a ceremony in Pristina, Kosovo Labor Inspectorate and the European Union Office in Kosovo announced the winner of this competition and commended examples of organizations that take an innovative approach to successfully tackling the risks posed by dangerous substances.
Two organizations were awarded:
- SharrCem
- MabCo Construction
To celebrate these organizations’ contributions to improving safety and health and to raise awareness of the good practices implemented, each of the awarded organizations received a trophy and a certificate.