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Welcome
Message
The
3rd China International Forum on Work Safety and China
International
Occupational Safety & Health Exhibition, jointly
hosted by the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS),
a ministry-level instrumentality of the Chinese government
overseeing workplace safety, and the renowned
International Labour Organization (ILO), is scheduled to
take place in September 2006. In the capacity of Chairman
of the Organizing Committee, I am delighted to extend a
warm welcome to all prospective participants from both
home and abroad.
The
Forum’s theme is “Challenges
and Solutions on Work Safety in Harmony with Economic and
Social Development”. Presentation and interchange
of ideas and experiences with regard to this theme will
reaffirm the importance of upholding work safety in a
country’s industrializing process and reveal the
essentials concerned, thereby inspiring us to contribute
to the cause of occupational safety and health in China
and the world and to promote the safe, harmonious,
all-round and sustainable development of human society.
The
Chinese government has identified high-profile efforts to
build a harmonious society on an all-round, well-off
basis, a goal which has given full expression to the
people-oriented development perspective. To regulate
industrial practices, in a sense to truly protect
workers’ safety and health, whose continuous improvement
can benefit the society as a whole, is a logical step amid
efforts to build a harmonious society, which features
democracy, the rule of law, justice, sincerity, amity,
vitality, stability, harmony between man and nature, and
coordinated economic and social development.
The
Chinese government has been placing great importance on
issues regarding work safety. In recent years, by taking
major measures such as institutional reform, mechanisms
installation, increased funding, etc., it has continuously
improved workplace safety conditions nationwide and on a
preliminary basis, reined in the rising trend of accident
total, in the context of sustained and rapid growth of the
Chinese economy. Yet China, the world’s largest
developing country, is going through an industrializing
process; due to challenges such as unbalanced economic
development between different regions and low productivity
as a whole, China’s work safety infrastructure remains
weak, as time and again major accidents occur in some
industries and areas. China’s work safety status is so
far incompatible with what a well-off, harmonious society
demands, and in this connection we still have challenging
tasks to handle and a long way to go. We will continue to
give top priority to safety issues and promote a
preventive culture at workplaces, oversee the primary
responsibility of enterprises for workplace safety, and
prompt government regulators to fulfill their role.
Sustained efforts will be made in promoting safety
cultures, building a sound legal framework governing work
safety, implementing the safety responsibility system,
advancing safety science and technology, and increasing
the funding of safety measures. It is our aim to enhance
safety management at source, eliminate hazards that stand
in the way of improved safety conditions, and ensure
safety at the intrinsic level.
To
better fulfill our mission, we will further broaden our
horizon and continue to open wider to the outside world in
the field of work safety. We are eager to enhance
cooperation with the relevant intergovernmental
organizations, foreign governments, NGOs, intermediaries,
multinational companies and, enterprises of different
categories, to examine and learn safety philosophies,
sciences, technologies and management approaches that
originate in other countries and regions. Hopefully,
assisted with international wisdom, China will braze a new
trail to put work safety on a solid basis, achieve steady
improvement of its work safety situation, and as a
responsible player in the international community, make
due contributions in implementing the ILO-initiated Global
Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health and creating
for mankind a safe, harmonious environment with few
disasters and hazards.
I
look forward to welcoming you in Beijing!
Li
Yizhong Minister
of the State Administration of Work Safety,
P.
R. China
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Message to the 3rd
China International Forum on Work Safety
Beijing, 20-21
September, 2006
The theme
of the 3rd China International
Forum on
Work Safety “Challenges and Solutions on Work Safety in Harmony with Economic and Social Development ” recognizes the intrinsic
connection between the quality of work and the societies
that we have.
The
importance of conditions of work in the cause of
justice, humanity and peace guided the foundation of the
ILO in 1919. The ILO is pleased to co-sponsor the 3rd
China International Forum on Work Safety as part of our
ongoing global effort to promote safety and health at
work.
The ILO’s
historical mandate is expressed in the goal of “decent
work”. Decent work is at the heart of human dignity. It
is key to the security of families and communities and
to social stability. And workplaces that are safe and
healthy are vital to the dignity of work.
Yet every
day, on average, some 5000 women and men continue to
lose their lives because of work related accidents and
illness. Everyone suffers – individuals, families,
communities, business and the national economy.
But there is
growing commitment to improve the situation. This must
be sustained and intensified. And participants at this
Forum can make a real difference. You can help
to ensure that
market values of efficiency and effectiveness,
productivity and competitiveness, are driven by human
values and respect for the dignity of workers.
Safe work
must be nurtured through partnership and dialogue in a
framework of rights and responsibilities. The ILO’s
international labour standards on occupational safety
and health give sound directions for action. Promoting a
safety culture is a key for all countries, regardless of
level of development. It underpins the ILO’s
Global Strategy on
Occupational Safety and Health. Prevention is the right
thing to do. Prevention works and it pays.
Once again
this Forum will take up key issues in ensuring safety
and health at work and gives all participants, from
abroad and from the host country, China, a tremendous
opportunity to learn, exchange experience and network.
The world of
work is complex, diverse and ever changing. One reality
that we cannot ignore is that in many countries the
majority of workers are in the informal economy-they too
have the right to health and safety at work. This is one
of the major challenges for occupational safety and
health practitioners and all concerned with the world of
work in the 21st century.
With my best
wishes for a successful Forum.
Juan Somavia
Director-General
International Labour Office
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