About 60 of the 180 Bhutanese enterprises rated on employee safety at the workplace have been observed risky. Therefore, the labor ministry is in the process of compiling rules to educate employers and the public on occupational safety.
Labor inspectors recorded the rating on a five point scale and found that about 60 enterprises in the country today have a high risk rating of four. The enterprises surveyed, located in five different dzongkhags, were as old as 10 years. The employee strength ranged from five to 200.
Bhutan has won international acclaim for its management of the natural environment but when it comes to safety health standards, Bhutanese enterprises and work places are rated very low.
“The status of occupational health safety(OHS) in the country is very poor,” the director general of the labor ministry, Pema Wangda, told Business Bhutan.
He said that it will be difficult for Bhutan to maintain an international standard on OHS and it was important to set up country-specific standards.
The well-being of the a country’s workforce depends on the terms and conditions of employment, hours of work, wages and allowances, leave arrangements, and social security benefits which directly or indirectly affects the labor productivity.
An engineer with the National Housing Development Corporation said that most Indian laborers working at sites are hesitant to wear safety helmets during construction. ”They haven’t been introduced to safety measures in India and now they are used to it,” he said.
Cheda, a former worker in a Pasakha industry, said though rules mandated the use of safety gears, most of the time workers found uncomfortable wearing it. “Employees complained that it was difficult to work with helmets, goggles and gloves during summer and if a worker is using earplugs, he may not be able to hear the alarm or warning signals.”
However, it has also been noticed that employers ignore the welfare of the workers to minimize costs.
The new rules adopted by the labor ministry for occupational safety will be out by December.
The rules will not only focus on employees but also emphasize on the public welfare and the environment. The 15 newly trained inspectors will check the companies on a regular basis to see if rules are followed.
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