Efio-Ita Nyok|28 April 2016|6:50am
Two million men and women loose their lives through accidents and diseases linked to their work yearly. There are 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year. And we have an obligation to act
Negroid Haven just got wind of the Safety and Health at Work 2016 Day and decided to immediately have a rather brief interview with Cross River State health boss, the indefatigable Honourable Commissioner for Health in the person of Dr. Mrs. Inyang Asibong. Asibong intimated our correspondence on the essence of the Day and carefully delineated the theme for 2016 edition and the set of activities that have been lined up by her Ministry to observe the Day in the state.
NH: Tomorrow is Safety and Health at Work Day 2016. Can you give us a run down of what the Day is all about, please?
COMMISSIONER: The Safety and Health at Work 2016 Day is usually marked every 28 of April yearly. It is usually just to bring to the forefront the problems that workers face and advocate for a change in policy.
You know, policy begins at the higher level and cascades to the managerial level and then to the line managers. So, the theme for this year is: 'Work place stress, a collective challenge'. It is an international campaign to promote safety, health and descent work. It is held on 28 of April as I said earlier and has been observed by the International Labour Organisation since 2003.
Two million men and women loose their lives through accidents and diseases linked to their work yearly. There are 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year. And we have an obligation to act.
Now, it's not a coincidence that it is very close to or usually marked very close to the 1st of May every year which is the Workers' Day. When you have this Workplace and Safety at Work Day being marked just as three days to May Day, which we are all very conversant with; but for this 28 of April, many people are not aware. So, that's why we want to create awareness as much as possible on your safety and health to the workplace. Because, if you are not healthy, and you are not safe in the work place, productivity cannot be maximised.
NH: Thank you very much Madam. As a Day that is recognised world over, are there going to be activities lined up by your Ministry?
COMMISSIONER: Yes. We are going to have activities on the 5th of May, we are going to be testing, have free medical screening, and outreach for civil servants in the state. And this will be happening at the Governor's Office, Calabar. We are going to screen for common non-communicable diseases. You know, many times, civil servants live sedentary lifestyles. So, they are prone to a lot of stress and non-communicable diseases. We have things like Diabetes Melitus very commonly. We have hypertension occurring very commonly. So, we are going to conduct test for their blood pressure, and we are going to consult. We are going to have a blood sugar test, we are going to test their blood pressure, and we are also going to consult, we will offer free consultations and actually prescribe medications where applicable. And also give out free medications to these civil servants.
NH: You just said it is going to be marked on the 5th of May…?
COMMISSIONER: No! No! No! It is marked on the 28 of April…But this outreach is going to be on the 5th of May. Because, we want it to be as much as possible when they come back from their enjoyment of the public holiday, for World Workers' Day.
