Accra, Sept 18, GNA - Mr Yaw Barima, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, on Thursday announced that a policy on occupational safety and health would soon be placed before Cabinet for consideration and adoption.

The Bill, the Minister said, would ensure that relevant laws were passed by Parliament to ensure that all workers were protected from hazards at work.

This was contained in a speech read for him at the launch of a handbook on occupational health in Accra. The Occupational Health Unit of the Public Health Division of the Ghana Health Service developed the 145-paged handbook that would serve as a useful basic guide for health and other Ghanaian workers. Mr Barima named some of the occupational hazards as noise, hot temperatures, burns, cuts, and exposure to chemicals leading to headaches, skin disorders and eye problems and expressed regret that the effects of such hazards could either be noticeable immediately or were manifested well after the person had left his or her occupation.

Mr Barimah said work-related injuries and fatalities had resulted in the loss of highly trained personnel, expensive machinery, plant and equipment as well as revenue to the nation.

He indicated that there were 133 reported occupational accidents in 2002, resulting in 124 injuries and nine fatalities.

"It is estimated that occupational accidents cost third world countries like Ghana, about seven per cent of Gross Domestic Product. Translated into cedi terms, this is a huge amount of money which could have been used in the provision of schools and hospitals for a number of communities", Mr Barima noted.

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health asked small and medium scale enterprise owners to contact the Occupational and Environmental Health Unit of the Ministry to facilitate training in occupational health for workers.

In a speech read for him by Dr Kofi Ahmed, a Director at the Ministry, the Dr Afriyie explained that the training would equip workers to minimise or prevent various health and safety problems encountered in the workplace.

It would also ensure a healthy workforce, raise productivity and enhance levels of profits.

Dr Afriyie indicated that the world of work today was quite different from what it was a few decades ago so policy makers and other partners should expedite work on the formulation of a new health policy in Ghana that would meet international standards, and be protective of all economic sectors.

The Minister said the guideline would provide standards, laws and regulations for regulating agencies like Factories Inspectorate, Mines Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work with as required.

He commended the authors of the handbook, which was sponsored by DANIDA, for the insight, saying it would help all other workers.

Dr Edith Clarke of MOH, and a Co-Author of the book, described occupational health as the theory and practice of assessing, correcting and preventing those factors in the work environment that had the potential to adversely affect the health of the present and future generations.

She said everyone was at risk because occupational health problems cut across socio-economic boundaries and there was the need to ensure a safer and healthier work conditions that would contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

The first copy was auctioned for five million cedis at the launch. 18 Sept. 03