Great Bay:--- Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius De Weever is commending the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA) for their three day safety and health training this week.
"The initiative taken by SHTA for getting businesses involved with Occupational Safety and Health and the importance of prevention as well as reporting on the job accidents to the Inspectorate, the SZV in order for the labor policy department to report to ILO amongst other things must be commended," said Minister De Weever.
Convention 187 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to which the Kingdom is a signatory to states that "A national preventative safety and health culture refers to a culture in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is respected at all levels, where government, employers and workers actively participate in securing a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and duties, and where the principle of prevention is accorded the highest priority."
This tripartite setting is ideal for all parties to contribute to solving the unreported or under-reported cases of on the job accidents and to propose a one stop reporting which could begin at the SMMC and ultimately end at ILO. Secondly, use this opportunity to encourage employers and workers representatives to implement an HIV/AIDS workplace policy as well. These are the two challenges that I have assigned the stakeholders and I am looking forward to their solutions.