ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers on Friday hosted a ‘Safety and Professional Development’ conference at Serena Hotel.

Former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who was chief guest at the event, said it is one of the prime responsibilities of the state to provide a safe working environment for labourers and to also educate them on how to keep the workspace safe and healthy.

Mr Abbasi said reports of loss of human life and damages to properties are not uncommon and that the unfortunately, health safety environment is viewed suspiciously in our society.

The former minister said in the absence legislation and regulatory controls, more fatal accidents can happen given the increasing economic growth and the ongoing mega infrastructure projects. He said health safety environment needs to be regulated and implemented in developing countries, especially Pakistan and that there is no other way to protect the environment and minimise losses.

He said that the oil and gas ministry, which he is leading, is said to be the leader in health safety environment in Pakistan and added that the Mines Act 1923 is being revised in consultation with the International Labour Organisation and the provinces. He said work on the revision of the Oil and Gas Drilling and Productions Regulations 1974 have also been initiated for the oil industry.

He said existing legislation and the regulatory framework of Pakistan in regards to health safety environment should be updated to meet modern and technological challenges. He urged academics to introduce a subject on health safety environment and that the media should help raise awareness about the issue.

Secretary Planning, Development and Reforms Shoaib Siddiqui urged government and non-government organisations to play their role in saving human lives. Talking about hazardous working environment in Karachi and other places where health safety environment is almost absent, the secretary said there is dire need of raising awareness in order to prevent accidents.

Shabila Parveen and Habiba Rafi from the National University of Sciences and Technology presented a paper on occupational health and safety management systems. The paper was written after surveying and inspecting 13 marble units and industries in Islamabad. According to them, two out of the 13 marble units use a water recycling process. The rest of the units let their water flow into the nearby drainage systems which is very dangerous. The researchers found a lack of septic tanks and that the industries use cheap technology. The researchers say that due to the lack of precautionary measures, many accidents have been reported in these units. They said the labourers are not trained and ineffective machines are used.'

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017