Regional Consultation Programme

National Technical Consultation Meeting on the Draft Occupational Safety and Health Policy in Dhaka

The Technical Committee constituted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Government of Bangladesh organized a national technical consultation meeting to discuss ways to improve the draft Occupational Safety and Health Policy of Bangladesh at the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB) in Dhaka on 30 December 2009 with the support of ILO.

Government officials, members of the technical committee for the OSH Policy, occupational safety and health experts and workers’ and employers’ representatives participated in the workshop. There was a presentation of the draft OSH policy and another presentation of the recommendations from the five divisional workshops. A plenary session discussed the draft policy and provided inputs based on the recommendations of the divisional workshops.

In 2008, the technical committee shared the draft OSH policy in a stakeholders meeting in Dhaka. ILO provided specific technical inputs to improve the draft OSH policy. Following the decision in that meeting, five divisional workshops were organized in Chittagong, Barishal, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet with the support of the ILO for further discussions on the draft policy. The participants from the government, OSH experts, academicians, and the local workers’ and employers’ representatives attended in the workshops. They made some recommendations to promote occupational safety and health at the workplaces. The recommendations from the divisional workshops were reviewed in the national consultation workshop in Dhaka.

The participants in the national consultation meeting agreed with most of the recommendations from divisional workshops and also given specific inputs for improving the draft OSH policy. The participants expressed satisfaction over the participation of the stakeholders in the world of work in this policy development process.

The national workshop agreed to hold a national conference as early as possible before finalizing the draft national OSH policy of Bangladesh.