2003 April 24
The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union announces an important One Day Seminar on “Health, Safety and the Environment”. This Seminar will be held on Wednesday April 30th, 2003 at the OWTU Headquarters, Paramount Building San Fernando starting at 8.30 am, and invites your media house to attend and report on the Seminar.
It has long been recognized that the country’s legislative framework with respect to health and safety is antiquated and woefully inadequate. Indeed, the first draft Occupational Health and Safety Bill was prepared in the mid 1980’s. It is quite obvious that the nation’s very considerable economic and industrial development requires a modern legislative framework and regulatory mechanisms. We have lost too much time in doing so and as a consequence workers’ health and their lives have been un-necessarily placed at risk. In addition, there are business costs associated with unsafe and/or unhealthy work environments and processes. It is therefore in everyone’s interest to have legislation passed immediately.
The Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union has therefore organized this One day Seminar on “Health, Safety and the Environment” so that all stakeholders – labour, business, practitioners, regulatory authorities can be informed of the current status of pertinent legislation and focus on how we can ensure that the appropriate legislative framework and regulatory mechanisms are implemented with dispatch.
To this end we have assembled an impressive panel of presenters. The Seminar will be addressed by the Honourable Lawrence Achong, Minister of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development who will detail the status of the Draft Occupational Health and Safety Bill as well as the Draft Employment Injury and Disability Benefits Bill. This latter piece of legislation, which is to replace the outdated Workmen’s Compensation Act, is equally necessary and will be a partner piece of legislation to the OSHA.
It is also to be noted that very shortly there will be the implementation by the EMA of regulations pertaining to water and air pollution as well as solid and hazardous waste, all of which relate to the issue of Occupational Health and Safety.
The Seminar will also be addressed by:
v Attorney at Law Douglas Mendes
v Mr. Kenneth Noel, President of the National Safety Council of Trinidad and Tobago
v Mr. Wayne Moze, President of the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce
v Dr. John Agard, Chairman of the Environmental Management Authority
v A Representative of the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union
The Seminar agenda will be so designed to provide for sufficient time for discussion of all the pertinent issues as well as to enable the organizers to develop an action plan that will see the legislative framework established.
This promises to be a very valuable and timely Seminar and we therefore anticipate that it would receive adequate coverage by the media.
Yours faithfully,
(Signed) Errol K. McLeod
President General