In many parts of the world, national authorities, trade unions, employers' organizations and safety and health practitioners organise activities to celebrate World Occupational Safety & Health Day (OSH). ILO’s estimates every year, more than 2.2 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases, more than 270 million workers suffer serious non-fatal injuries and over 160 million workers suffer from short or long term illness from work-related causes. To mark this years’ Occupational Safety & Health Day, The Labour and Human Resource Department’s (LHRD) held Punjab’s first dedicated Conference on Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) on the 28thApril 2018. The conference served as a platform for international and local safety, medical and OSH experts to share the latest practices and information on OSH with employers, trade unions and business associations. In collaboration with GIZ, over 600 participants attended, an exceptional turn out where new concepts were presented, including the Punjab Occupational Safety and Health Bill. This milestone achievement will ensure the employers’ responsibilities for the safety and health of their workforce. For the very first time in Pakistan, Vision Zero was introduced. The Saeed Ahmed Awan Centre for the Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment has adopted the concept of Vision Zero, an international campaign of the International Social Security Association (ISSA). Vision Zero was launched globally at the XXI World Congress for Safety and Health at Work 2017 in Singapore and introduces a transformational approach to prevention, integrating integrates the three dimensions of safety, health and well-being at all levels of work. Moreover, this conference demonstrated the strong commitment by the LHRD for improving the labour standards through the development of the OSH bill and executing a conference of this size. This conference created some of the first conversions for OSH in Pakistan, and hopefully more opportunities and discussions will be created to provide resources and information to workers, employees, trade and business associations and other key stakeholders in the future.

Key Speaker included:

• Mr Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Minister for Labour and Human Resource Punjab
• Dr Farah Masood, Secretary Labour and Human Resource Department Punjab
• Dr Sohail Shahzad, Additional Secretary, LHRD, Pakistan
• Ms Marion Pfennigs, First Secretary Development Cooperation, German Embassy Islamabad
• Ms Ingrid Christensen, Country Director International Labour Organisation
• Mr Lester Claravall, Oklahoma Department of Labour, USA
• Ms Jillian Hamilton, CEO, Manage Damage, Australia
• Dr Harald Wachsmuth, previous Director of Security, Health and Environment, E.ON, Germany
• Dr Dheera Phong-anant, General Manager of SHAWPAT, the Safety and Health at Work Promotion Association, Bangkok, Thailand
• Ms Romina Kochius, Project Manager, GIZ Pakistan
• Mr Arshad Mahmood, Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment, Lahore
• Dr Asaad Ahmed Nafees MBBS, FCPS, Assistant Professor, Agha Khan University, Karachi
• Mr Muhammad Mujahid, Health and Safety Officer at Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment, Lahore
• Mr Muhammad Ejaz, Senior Manager (Systems Audit), Crescent Textile Mills, Faisalabad