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11:02 GMT
KUWAIT, Dec 4 (KUNA) -- Kuwait has established a special department for
follow-up on affairs concerning safety and health of personnel and workers in
line with charters of international agencies, an official affirmed on Tuesday.
Kuwait, along with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is
seeking to apply most up-to-date regulations for occupational safety and
health, said Ali Al-Seif, Health Ministry Undersecretary for Public Health
Affairs. This came in a statement he addressed on behalf of Health Minister
Abdullah Al-Taweel at the inaugural session of the GCC conference for
occupational safety.
The ministry has formed coordination committees with other state
departments to follow-up on affairs related to this domain, said Al-Seif, who
also expressed hope that the conference would wrap up with significant
recommendations.
Toufiq Khojah, Director-General of the Executive Bureau of the GCC Council
of Health Ministers, said the conference was held for "activation" of
recommendations of the GCC commission for public health and traffic safety and
examination of the international strategy for laborers' health, declared at
the general assembly meeting of the World Health Organization in May.
Kuwait is keen on promoting vocational health services and upgrading skills
of staff serving in this vital sector, he said, indicating at the regular
holding of training courses and conventions.
For his part, Ahmad Al-Shatti, the chairman of the conference and the
director of the department of occupational health, said in his statement that
injuries, accidents, and deaths cause losses estimated at 4-5 percent of the
globe's output.
According to the 2005 figures of the International Labor Organization, up
to two million work-related deaths are registered annually.
Occupation safety has become a major issue for states of the world as
workers constitute half of the globe's population, in addition to the fact
that economies of states depend on the well-being of this segment of society.
Studies have shown that an adequate work environment is necessary for
hiking overall productivity.
The GCC Executive Office of Health Ministers, the Regional Office of the
World Health Organization, the International Labor Office, and the Department
of Occupational Health and the General Medical Council at the Kuwaiti Ministry
of Health are all taking part in the three-day conference.(end)
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KUNA 041402 Dec 07NNNN