Start of the "Build Safely" Campaign

01/26/2012

 

" Build Safely " is the name of the Campaign for health and safety in construction, organized by the International Labor Organization. The start of the Campaign is the Conference "Labour Inspection in Construction", held from 23 to 26 January in Skopje, whith participation the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Macedonia, the Trade Union of Construction, Industry and Planning of Macedonia, the Organization of Employers of Macedonia, Business Confederation of Macedonia and the State Inspectorate of Labour.

Emil Krstanoski, National coordinator of the ILO in Macedonia, informed that the purpose of the campaign is raising awareness among the three parties -  workers, employers and the state for achieving greater safety in construction in Macedonia.

Joaquim Nunez Pintado, ILO expert on OHS for Central and Eastern Europe who is the main speaker, informed that the first part of the campaign is informative, while the second part is aimed at the practical implementation of safety standards at work.

Last year we had 12 fatalities, five of which are in the construction - said Minister of Labour and Social Policy Spiro Ristovski at the press conference.

For the first time the Ministry, Inspection, ILO, Trade unions and Employers will conduct a campaign for application of the standards of the Law on Safety and Health at Work.

President of SGIP, Pavel Trendafilov said that unregistered employments are the largest generator of accidents and injuries at work. The construction sector employs (registered) 23.000 persons, while there is a figure of total 37.000 workers, which speaks of the volume of the black economy.

For tears SGIP was stressing the need for implementation of the ILO Convention 94, which will result in social clauses. This means that the tenders would be open only for the companies that fulfil all responsibilities towards employees.