Trade unions have marked World Day for Safety and Health at Work and commemorated the victims of work accidents

Today, on April 27, the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) organized a solemn meeting on the occasion of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which was attended by the social partners and the trade union’s assets.

Mihail Hîncu, vice-president of the CNSM, noted that by celebrating this holiday on April 28, the International Labour Organization aims to promote the campaign to prevent accidents at work and occupational diseases globally, aimed at attracting international attention to the alarming trends in occupational safety and health, the extent of accidents at work and occupational diseases.

Also, on this day, Mihai Hîncu mentioned, the trade union movement in the world marks the International Day of Workers Deceased and Traumatized at Work, an occasion to commemorate the victims of labour accidents through the simultaneous organization of several awareness and information campaigns within trade unions, employers’ and governmental organizations. He stressed that the trade union activities organized at global level on this occasion will be carried out under the topic “Trade unions save lives”, declared by the International Trade Union Confederation, representing for CNSM an important objective, an impetus for the fulfilment of the requirements in the field of safety and health at work.

Mihail Hîncu stressed that at the trade unions initiative, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work is officially celebrated in Moldova since 2010. On this occasion, he reported that the CNSM Confederal Committee decided to grant material assistance to families, whose trade union members have died because of a work accident.

The CNSM vice-president pointed out that with the creation of the Labour Inspectorate of Trade Unions (IMS), the state of things regarding safety and health at work has improved visibly. Trade union members working in the real sector of the economy have been able to convince themselves of this. Thanks to the intervention of IMS inspectors, human lives were saved, multiple work accidents were prevented. Only last year, in collaboration with representatives of the State Labour Inspectorate, IMS inspectors participated in the investigation of 27 work accidents.

In this regard, Mihail Hîncu stressed that the active inclusion of trade union inspectors in the process of evaluation and prevention of occupational hazards at the workplaces made a significant decrease in the number of work accidents with serious or fatal consequences. Thus, last year there were only 4 fatal accidents to 15 events, which occurred in 2013.

However, Mihai Hîncu insisted, CNSM expresses its concern about the real situation of the health and safety at work in the country due to the delay of the research deadlines for the work accidents and the state of things related to the protection of the employees at the workplace.

The vice-president of the CNSM emphasized that knowing and accurately assessing occupational hazards at each job is the main objective of the activities to prevent accidents at work and occupational diseases. In this respect, Mihail Hîncu noted that there is a direct correlation between the real condition of the conditions and the working processes in the majority of the operating enterprises and the increased level of the indicators of morbidity with temporary incapacity for work of the employees.

Anastasia Oceretnii, State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, advocated in her intervention that occupational safety and health should become a national priority. She said the jobs must be protected, safe to prevent accidents at work.

Father Valeriu officiated a religious service to commemorate the employees who died at work during the year.

Department of mass media and international relations