THE Ministry of Labour will soon begin the roll-out of a rigorous countrywide public relations campaign aimed at enhancing workplace safety and preventing workplace accidents.

This is according to subject minister, Joseph Hamilton, who, on Wednesday, said that the fundamentals of the campaign will enlighten, inform and edify the nation about safe work practices and environments.

“Safe work is not an employer-employee matter only. It is a national problem we have that is cultural in nature. So, the communications strategy will revolve around that where the nation is brought into a conversation,” Minister Hamilton said.

The minister further stated that the campaign will not only target mining and construction worksites but office jobs as well.

“The other important issue in the PR programme is informing people about the dangers that also exist in offices, because when we speak to this matter most people look to the construction and mining and so forth but there are a lot of dangers in offices,” he said adding: “I’ve seen ceiling that are about to fall on workers, or office furniture that can cause injuries.”

In addition to the PR campaign, the minister disclosed that occupational, safety and health (OSH) officers and labour officers will commence a data-collection exercise in the various regions and sub-regions across the country.

“I’ve instructed all the head of departments to instruct both their occupation safety and health officers and labour officers to collect data in the regions and sub-regions, so that we can be properly informed [about] how many businesses and what type are in a region, so that we can have an understanding of how many workers are doing jobs that can be interpreted to be factory or considered to be dangerous jobs,” Minister Hamilton explained.

Additionally, he said the ministry will continue with its training programmes and partnerships with both public and private sector entities to ensure all labour laws are being upheld.

“We will continue to do the training that we are doing with both public and private sector entities to ensure that all these places have health and safety committees,” he said.

For the year 2021, Guyana reported a 16 per cent reduction in the number of workplace fatalities in 2021 as compared to the previous year.

The labour ministry, in a report earlier this week, stated that 32 workplace fatalities were recorded in the year 2020 across all sectors with mining being the number one contributor.

The decrease was credited to a rigorous campaign with local businesses that was spearheaded by the OSH Department and supporting agencies. Outreaches and public awareness activities were conducted in mining communities in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine. Health and safety messages were aired on the radio and television and there was the widespread distribution of brochures, flyers and posters. These efforts will be boosted in 2022 as part of the upcoming public relations campaign.