Tuesday (28) when I wrote this Editorial is World Safety Day with emphasis on Safety and Health at Work.

The Cayman Islands Minister of Education, Employment & Gender Affairs, Tara Rivers, has made a statement on the importance of safety and health at work – see Front Page article today “Cayman Islands celebrates World Safety Day”.

“Across the world, every 15 seconds a worker dies from a work related accident or disease. Every 15 seconds, 160 workers have a work related accident. This means that by the end of today, nearly 1 million workers will suffer a workplace accident and by the end of today, around 5,500 workers will lose their life as a result of a workplace accident or disease,” Rivers says. And she is correct when she states, “These are humbling statistics for all of us who work to earn a living and support our families”.

It is reassuring we have a minister that recognises the need for training and our Department of Labour and Pensions (DLP) has trained over 800 persons in various aspects of Health and Safety.

However, do employers here really make safety and health a top priority?

How many employers have safety and health programs aimed at preventing on the job injuries and illnesses?

Where are the statistics on this?

Rivers encourages “all employers to invest in their employees and their companies by taking advantage of the OSH [Occupational Safety and Health] Training provided by the DLP. It is not mandatory, though.

Rivers acknowledges this by saying: “there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve full compliance with all aspects of health and safety. Many employers and employees still do not understand that taking a risk, no matter how big or small, in terms of safety and health in the workplace is simply not worth it, and not acceptable.”

Until compliance is mandatory I fear the majority of employers will not take any of this seriously, especially the small business employers.

Then there is the employees. How many have asked their employers about safety in the workplace? Is there a trained officer of the company designated to see this is executed?

“Studies show” the Minister says, “for example, that for every $1.00 invested in safety and health, a company can expect a return of $4.00 to $6.00.”

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) actually make the point even more dramatic, viz: “Every year, lost work days, medical treatment, workers’ compensation and rehabilitation of occupational injuries and diseases will cost $2.8 trillion.”

On the EHS [Environment, Health Safety] website it says:

“The news is punctuated periodically by intense coverage of dramatic, heartbreaking stories that capture global attention: health workers infected while caring for patients with deadly diseases, trapped miners who may or may not resurface, factory building collapses, plane crashes, explosions of oil rigs and nuclear accidents.

“While the media eventually move on to other topics, working in hazardous conditions is a daily, routine task for many workers. The numbers are striking: Over 313 million workers suffer non-fatal occupational injuries each year, equating to 860,000 people injured on the job daily.

“Every single day, 6,400 people die from an occupational accident or disease, amounting to 2.3 million deaths each year. Work-related accidents or diseases can definitely be placed in the high-burden category of all global health problems.”

A long-standing ILO priority, occupational safety and health was recognised as a fundamental human right in the 2008 Seoul Declaration on Safety and Health at Work.

ILO Director-General Guy Ryder says, “It is time to turn this human right into reality for workers everywhere. “Good governance on occupational safety and health shows that prevention pays. Today, on the occasion of World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the ILO calls for urgent action to build a culture of prevention on occupational safety and health.

“Good governance will strengthen country capacities and also facilitate mobilization of national and international resources. Spending these funds wisely requires the creation and implementation of effective national occupational safety and health strategies with the aim of extending them to all sectors including micro- and small enterprises, the informal economy and agriculture.”

I leave the last words to Minister Rivers:

“Safety is a full time job; don’t make it a part time practice.”