British Safety Council Chief Exec visits China

The 7^th International Forum on Work Safety will be held in Beijing in association with the State Administration of Work Safety. The forum reflects China’s renewed efforts to reduce workplace injuries and ill health. Alex Botha, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, is speaking at the Forum.

“The general consensus is that China is improving its record on occupational safety and health,” says Alex. “The British Safety Council welcomes that, while emphasising that with fatal injuries still in their tens of thousands each year, China has a long way to go.

“These improvements have their origin in political leadership that over a decade ago saw ‘safe development’ written into China’s national plans. In particular, 2002 saw the introduction of two new laws that improved the regulatory framework, along with the first International Forum on Work Safety. This combination of a robust and improving regulatory framework to set standards and penalise wrong-doers, along with forums for business, health and safety professionals and government officials to exchange experience on prevention is the right one.”

“I look forward to sharing our experiences with colleagues while I am in China. With an estimated 4% of global GDP lost due to health and safety failure, with over 2.3 million people senselessly killed each year, we know that key to delivering improvements is to convince leaders – both in business and politics – that there are economic as well as moral reasons to protect workers.”

Adapted from press release by Katherine Guenioui

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/asia-pacific-rim/25092014/british-safety-council-chief-exec-visits-china-551/