800,000 ready-made garment workers across Bangladesh are set to benefit from an occupational safety and health (OSH) training program launched in Dhaka on 9 October.
The training is being delivered by the Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) with the support of the ILO with funding from Canada, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. BGMEA and BKMEA are also supporting the program. The launch marks the third phase of an initiative that has seen a core group of 114 master trainers from BEF, BGMEA, BKMEA and RMG factories train 8,038 RMG managers and supervisors in occupational safety and health. In the latest phase, this group will now go on and build awareness of key OSH issues amongst 800,000 workers in 585 factories by June 2017.
State Minister for Labour and Employment Mujibul Haque Chunnu, BGMEA President Md. Siddiqur Rahman, Canadian High Commissioner H. E. Benoit-Pierre Laramee, ILO Country Director Srinivas Reddy, BEF Vice President Golam Mainuddin, 2nd Vice President of BKMEA Mansoor Ahmed and Abdul Mukit Khan, representing the National Coordination Committee for Worker’s Education, were present at the program.
The training for workers covers seven priority areas for the RMG sector namely: fire safety; electrical safety; trips, slips, falls and good housekeeping; dangerous substances; ergonomics; personal protective equipment and first aid.