URA commemorated the 22nd World Day of Safety and Health at Work yesterday together with Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) in Namanve, at an event that was presided over by the Hon. Betty Amongi Ongom, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development.
The day, which began in 2003 as a campaign by the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been celebrated every 28th April to promote safe, healthy, and humane working conditions across the world.
The day celebrations re-echoed the message to raise awareness about occupational safety and health, promote a culture of prevention in workplaces, and encourage governments, employers, and workers to collaborate on safety and health initiatives.
Uganda’s celebrations were themed around “Revolutionizing Health and Safety: The Role of AI and Digitalization at Work”.
Hon. Betty Amongi Ongom emphasized the importance of technology in promoting safety and health at the workplace, and the need for all employers to ensure and protect their workers‘ dignity.
She referenced the newly signed Bill (The Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Bill 2023) which addresses the previously identified gaps for safety and health at the workplace, for the employees, employers and Inspectors.
In line with the theme, AI is fronted as a key development that will improve risk management and prediction while addressing issues of algorithmic transparency and fairness. In addition, organisations were urged to advance robotics in order to reduce the time spent on dangerous jobs while necessitating new safety protocols.
Other areas of discussion for the day centered on enabling proactive safety management while maintaining strong data privacy and security regulations; addressing remote and hybrid work while also addressing concerns of supervision, ergonomics, and mental health challenges.
It was noted that, whereas a safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work for everyone, annually 2.93 million workers die due to work-related factors, and 395 million workers worldwide sustain non-fatal work-related injuries.
The requirement for compliance to safe working spaces is key in URA’s mandate of Revenue Mobilization. URA was represented by members from the Occupational Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE) team.
