Safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work
Opening remarks of Ms Dagmar Walter, Director, ILO DWT South Asia/CO India, at the Training Programme on “Promoting Health and Safety and COVID-prevention in Micro, Small & Home Based Enterprises and Workers in Lower Tiers of Supply Chains”.
Namaskar and Good morning!
I am very happy to be part of the joint initiative of Labour Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and the ILO to organize a workshop on “Promoting Health and Safety and COVID-prevention in Micro, Small & Home Based Enterprises and Workers in Lower Tiers of Supply Chains”.
I especially thank Labour Commissioner Dr Sudhir Mahadev Bobde, who, along with his team has taken a leadership role for taking this initiative forward. I extend heartiest welcome to each one of you who have taken out time from your busy schedules to be with us in today’s training. This training session is an attempt at generating awareness for creating safer and healthier workplaces especially small, micro and home based work places.
I understand that today we are joined by officials of the labour and factory department all across Uttar Pradesh, but also from department of industry and MSME institutes and industry clusters in Uttar Pradesh, which is also famous for its very important crafts and industries and is contributing significantly to global and domestic trade.
The ILO’s latest analysis of the labour market impact of COVID-19 exposes the devastating and disproportionate effect on young workers and women workers, and analyses measures being taken to create a safe return to work environment. For most governments, it is critical to create an employment-rich recovery that also promotes equity and sustainability, which means getting people and enterprises working again as soon as possible, in safe conditions and help them remain safe for both workers and employers, and to keep the businesses and economy going.
As practitioners who are working with workers and small producers, each one of us is aware of the magnitude and intensity of the COVID-19 crisis that we are facing. This is not just a humanitarian crisis, but also an economic and social crisis that has affected lives and livelihoods of millions across the globe. Of the 3.3 billion global workforce, informal workers are the most vulnerable lacking safety, protection and access to good health care.
In Uttar Pradesh, the cases of COVID-19 continue to be on the rise and temporary periods of lockdown continue. At the same time, the industry is also in the phase of resuming economic activities. This phase therefore becomes the most critical for the Government, Employers and the Workers, who need to engage in a social dialogue process to work towards a meaningful and effective response in dealing with the crisis. There is a need to understand how we can work in a way that the risk of the pandemic is reduced and we can take on board safety and risk management within our work organisation.
In today’s workshop, we will focus on the health and safety of workers in small, micro, home based enterprises. This segment of workers and business continues to operate in both formal as well as informal settings, largely invisible to the rest of the supply chain, whether domestic or global. At the same time, we have to acknowledge the significant contribution of the MSMEs in generating employment and the potential it has to create more and better jobs.
I would also like to recall here the ILO Centenary Declaration adopted in June 2019, which highlighted that "safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work”. This also aligns with the universally adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) urging us to ‘leaving no one behind’. The SDG 8 in particular towards achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, further strengthens our commitment to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.
I hope that today’s session is useful and productive and helps you all to go back and integrate proposed measures as integral components in your work.
I once again thank the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the office of the Labour Commissioner to work towards visibilizing the most invisible workers in the supply chains and enabling safer workplaces for them, as well as helping the workplaces to remain open, productive in a safe manner, especially in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for your kind attention and I look forward to hear back from the deliberations.
With my very best wishes to all of you.
I am very happy to be part of the joint initiative of Labour Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and the ILO to organize a workshop on “Promoting Health and Safety and COVID-prevention in Micro, Small & Home Based Enterprises and Workers in Lower Tiers of Supply Chains”.
I especially thank Labour Commissioner Dr Sudhir Mahadev Bobde, who, along with his team has taken a leadership role for taking this initiative forward. I extend heartiest welcome to each one of you who have taken out time from your busy schedules to be with us in today’s training. This training session is an attempt at generating awareness for creating safer and healthier workplaces especially small, micro and home based work places.
I understand that today we are joined by officials of the labour and factory department all across Uttar Pradesh, but also from department of industry and MSME institutes and industry clusters in Uttar Pradesh, which is also famous for its very important crafts and industries and is contributing significantly to global and domestic trade.
The ILO’s latest analysis of the labour market impact of COVID-19 exposes the devastating and disproportionate effect on young workers and women workers, and analyses measures being taken to create a safe return to work environment. For most governments, it is critical to create an employment-rich recovery that also promotes equity and sustainability, which means getting people and enterprises working again as soon as possible, in safe conditions and help them remain safe for both workers and employers, and to keep the businesses and economy going.
As practitioners who are working with workers and small producers, each one of us is aware of the magnitude and intensity of the COVID-19 crisis that we are facing. This is not just a humanitarian crisis, but also an economic and social crisis that has affected lives and livelihoods of millions across the globe. Of the 3.3 billion global workforce, informal workers are the most vulnerable lacking safety, protection and access to good health care.
In Uttar Pradesh, the cases of COVID-19 continue to be on the rise and temporary periods of lockdown continue. At the same time, the industry is also in the phase of resuming economic activities. This phase therefore becomes the most critical for the Government, Employers and the Workers, who need to engage in a social dialogue process to work towards a meaningful and effective response in dealing with the crisis. There is a need to understand how we can work in a way that the risk of the pandemic is reduced and we can take on board safety and risk management within our work organisation.
In today’s workshop, we will focus on the health and safety of workers in small, micro, home based enterprises. This segment of workers and business continues to operate in both formal as well as informal settings, largely invisible to the rest of the supply chain, whether domestic or global. At the same time, we have to acknowledge the significant contribution of the MSMEs in generating employment and the potential it has to create more and better jobs.
I would also like to recall here the ILO Centenary Declaration adopted in June 2019, which highlighted that "safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental to decent work”. This also aligns with the universally adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) urging us to ‘leaving no one behind’. The SDG 8 in particular towards achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, further strengthens our commitment to ensure safe and healthy workplaces.
I hope that today’s session is useful and productive and helps you all to go back and integrate proposed measures as integral components in your work.
I once again thank the Government of Uttar Pradesh and the office of the Labour Commissioner to work towards visibilizing the most invisible workers in the supply chains and enabling safer workplaces for them, as well as helping the workplaces to remain open, productive in a safe manner, especially in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you for your kind attention and I look forward to hear back from the deliberations.
With my very best wishes to all of you.