THE Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security yesterday initiated an advertising campaign for its Central Recruitment and Manpower Agency (CRMA), to mark Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Month which begins today.

Themed ‘Managing Risk in the Work Environment’, the slogan for the observance is ‘My life, My Work, My Safe Work’ which spawns a calendar of activities.

Among those present for the occasion, at Hotel Tower, in Main Street, Georgetown, were Minister with the portfolio, Mr. Manzoor Nadir; his predecessor, Dr. Dale Bisnauth, now Director of Industrial Training; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Mr. Trevor Thomas and Chief Labour and Occupational Safety and Health Officer, Mr. Mohamed Akeel.

Bisnauth emphasised the need for developmental skills in the national workforce and congratulated his former ministry for pursuing such a scheme.

Nadir said the Labour Department has embarked on a programme to mainstream the issue of HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

He explained: “While there have been programmes before, the focus now is on mainstreaming this fight against this scourge in our workplaces and society. In this regard, the ministry will begin a series of activities that will promote the achievement of our goals, which include a safe and healthy workforce.”

Nadir said his ministry will soon undertake a project that will see more than $10M committed to it.

He said the objective is to maintain a healthy and safe workforce, by reducing the incidence of HIV/AIDS among workers and the strategy entails mainstreaming HIV/AIDS initiatives in the work of the Labour Department, so as to promote an awareness drive testing and effect behaviour change.

Nadir also outlined some of the strategic initiatives, including promoting the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) among industrial establishments that will get them to sign onto setting up HIV/AIDS workplace committees and adopt a policy inclusive of awareness seminars and pledge not to discriminate against infected employees.

Inspection reports, through which the MOC will be promoted directly by Labour and OSH Officers when they visit and inspect, are another way of providing valuable data on the success of the implementation, he said.

Other aspects of the process are:
* seminars related to HIV/AIDS to deal with workers at their workplaces;

* direct interventions by managers where work will be done by them and the proprietors of businesses to make themselves professionals;

* sensitisation among new and young workers to include work/study students and job seekers at CRMA;

* making available collateral material, comprising safety gear, such as caps and shirts for national labour events like OSH Month and May Day parade and

* mass promotion programmes to use the desire for information on labour and OSH laws to carry HIV/AIDS messages to workers throughout Guyana.

The scheme is being resourced by the local Health Sector Development HIV/AIDS Unit and the Labour Department, the United States (U.S.) Department of Labour/International Labour Organisation (ILO)/Government of Guyana HIV/AIDS Programme and Guyana Chronicle.

Nadir said, during the next six months, the approaches would garner support for OSH Month, advertisement for the CRMA and the promotion of Labour and OSH laws while regulations are crafted, together with the production of collateral material.

The CRMA public relations blitz will see media saturation that begins today on radio, television and in the Guyana Chronicle, he disclosed.