By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: A campaign calling for the need to adhere to fire prevention and safety measures at the workplace on Thursday launched by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) with the collaboration of the Labour & Human Resource Department (L&HRD), the government of Punjab.
An awareness campaign on fire prevention and safety launched organized by GIZ and L&HRD was launched during “Strategic Dialogue on Promotion of Sustainable Textiles” Textile Industry Sustainability Forum (TISF) to educate the workforce regarding taking preventive and curative measures to prevent fire incidents and to raise awareness of the various occupational and safety hazards in the workplace.
The dialogue attended by representatives from the public and private sectors, was followed by the launch of a campaign on Fire Prevention and Fire Safety.
Produced in partnership with Happening Intl, the awareness campaign has been designed to highlight the various occupational and safety hazards at the workplace and point the factory workers and managers towards workable solutions. The event also featured a skit in order to raise awareness of the various occupational and safety hazards in the workplace.
Speaking at the occasion the Secretary L&HRD) Liaqat Ali Chatha said that such kinds of initiatives would play a pivotal role in the improvement of safety measures.
Such platforms where topics such as occupational safety and health, change management, modernization, digitalization and behaviour change are not only discussed but planned out to achieve concrete, measurable results and regular progress, he said.
Romina Kochius Project Manager GIZ Textile Cluster said that L&HRD has made positive efforts in creating awareness regarding occupational safety and health and the investments and innovation of the private sector in improving working conditions and ensuring decent work demonstrates their commitment and fervor for this field.
Faisal Zahoor, DG Labour Welfare Punjab also addressed the participants, saying that the Labour department has in the past few years taken several initiatives to improve the working conditions of its workforce. He appreciated the hard work that the workforce puts in daily and urged them to keep their spirit of ambition and enthusiasm reignited.
Working on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is assisting the Government of Pakistan to build the capacity of relevant stakeholders in the field of labour standards within the textile and garment sector in Punjab.
The Labour and Environmental Standards in Pakistan’s (LESP) Textile Industry (TextILES) Programme, in close collaboration the Labour and Human Resource Department, Punjab and its subsidiary institute, namely the Saeed Ahmad Awan Centre for Improvement of Working Conditions and Environment (SAACIWCE), to improve labour standards for workers and educate employers to improve working conditions within their factories.
The textile and garment industry, primarily located in Punjab Province, is the most important of the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. After agriculture, textile manufacturing is the only industry that has generated huge employment for both skilled and unskilled labor and continues to be the second largest employment generating sector in Pakistan.
According to an ILO report released in 2014, the textile sector provided employment to about 15 million people or roughly 30% of the 49 million workforces of the country. Working conditions are characterized by poor safety standards and low wages, coupled with a lack of constructive dialogue between management, workers and state institutions.
