Health & Safety Conference: Call to enforce safety and environment laws

^5th International Environment, Health & Safety Conference

KARACHI: Companies in Pakistan need to invest in environmental health & safety programs which involve extensive health and safety training, safety audits, incident investigation, and safety communications. Some of the fundamental laws on health, safety, and environment have been enacted since 1974, which are quite comprehensive, but it was a pity that despite these laws, the performance in both public and private organizations is poor.

“There appears to be a knowledge gap among industrial managers and health, safety, and environment professionals regarding various laws. Hence, there is a dire need to bridge this gap by thoroughly knowing and fully understanding all relevant acts and rules,” said President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Junaid Esmail Makda, while speaking as the Chief Guest at the 5^th International Environment, Health & Safety Conference held at a local hotel recently.

He stated that more than a dozen laws exist to address health, safety, and environment, but their enforcement is too weak. CEO of the Professionals Network, Mehmood Tareen, CSR & CSI Activist, Ateeq-ur-Rehman, and other prominent personalities also spoke on occasion.

President, KCCI, stressed that ensuring the health and safety of people and maintaining a healthy working environment should be a priority for all businesses. Industries in Pakistan need to ensure the provision of a safe workplace for their employees and contribute to improvements in the environment. "Good environmental practice is good business practice. Businesses can enhance efficiency through environmentally friendly technology, by optimizing products and processes and saving energy and natural resources."

He said that safety was an aspect of business that needs to be well defined at all levels of an organization. It should be the most stressed upon factor at the annual board meetings of companies and to be the center attention for all business domains. Considerable investments need to be made, not just in physical infrastructure, but also in terms of creating an institutional architecture where health and safety are monitored at every level of the organizational hierarchy, he added.

He mentioned that the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as a responsible corporate citizen, is playing a significant role in creating awareness and educating businesses to implement programs regarding issues of health, safety, and environmental degradation.