Opening Remarks at the SCORE Launch Event in Zhejiang Ningbo, P.R.China

By Ms Claire Courteille-Mulder, Director, ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia

Statement | Zhejiang Ningbo, P.R. China | 17 May 2018
SCORE Launch Event in Zhejiang Ningbo
Distinguished Mr. Li Gonghang, Deputy Director General of Zhejiang Provincial Administration of Work Safety

Distinguished Mr. Yang Qiaoming, Deputy General Manager of Zhejiang Communications Investment Group CO., Ltd (CICO)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, Good afternoon.

Let me first of all, express my deep gratitude to the Zhejiang Administration of Work Safety for their valuable support in organising today’s launch of the new pilot of SCORE project in China. I also wish to thank you all of you for being here with us today.

Although I am new in my position of ILO Director in China, I heard a lot about the success of the SCORE project in this country. In fact China is probably the country in which the SCORE project has been most successful and it is indeed a great pleasure to witness today with you the expansion of the project in the Zhejiang Province.

SCORE stands for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises in English. It is an ILO global programme that aims to improve both productivity and working conditions in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Training - made of both practical classroom teaching and in-factory consulting - is at the very heart of the programme. These trainings rely on best international practices and they address the interests of both workers and managers. With more than ten years’ implementation in China, the SCORE project has demonstrated that it does improve workers’ productivity, safety and health at the workplace.

Safety at work is of critical importance to ILO. In fact occupational health and safety has been part of the ILO mandate since its creation, almost 100 years ago. The protection of workers against occupational diseases and injuries is part of the ILO Constitution and it is also a significant component of the sustainable development goals (SDG) on decent work and inclusive growth which was adopted by the international community in 2015.

Occupational injuries, diseases and deaths cause major losses to workers and their families, enterprises and society at large. But ensuring health and safety at work can be challenging especially for SME as they may lack the knowledge and capacity to take adequate measures. And this is what the SCORE project is all about: It addresses safety issues through workplace cooperation, it provides hands-on tools and practical solutions for SMEs to improve safety management capacity"

Ms Claire Courteille-Mulder, Director, ILO Country Office for China and Mongolia
The SCORE project has been implemented in the Zhejiang Province over the last three years with encouraging results: So far over 200 trainers and safety inspectors attended the training. In addition more than 500 factories in the Huzhou municipality were involved in SCORE training and on-site consulting with very promising results. Through work place cooperation, SCORE has contributed to raise awareness, and to encourage the practical application of risk assessment tools in SMEs.

Zhejiang Administration of Work Safety has piloted a SCORE Training with CICO in Ningbo in 2017 and that the training will expand to Quzhou in 2018 to support more enterprises. This is really a big step for the implementation of the SCORE Project in China and I wish to congratulate you for the achievements in Ningbo and I look forward to seeing more success in Quzhou. Let me acknowledge here the support and the involvement of provincial authorities which is key to the success of this programme.

I have learned that Zhejiang is a national model in the promotion of the safety development concept in China and has a solid experience in helping enterprises apply work safety standardization. I hope that the SCORE piloting in Zhejiang will add to this expertise and help to develop guidelines and best practices for many SMEs.

Let me conclude by mentioning the 9th China International Occupational Safety & Health Forum that the ILO and the MEM will co-organize in Oct. 2018 at Hangzhou International Expo Center. I encourage all of you who participated in this pilot project to share your experience during this forum.

Once again I would like to acknowledge the great work and support of our national implementing partner (The International Cooperation Centre of MEM) as well as our local partners Zhejiang Administration of Work Safety. With your contribution, I have no doubt that the SCORE Phase 3 will continue to book more success in the future.

Many thanks for listening to me.