OSH SITUATIONER

 Identify the problems, issues and challenges associated with OSH conditions in
the country.

Overpopulation is a major constituent in the country’s never-ending battle against poverty. Even
minors hold no exemptions in the struggle. As per NSO’s latest Labor Force Survey, an estimation of
over 36 million people are employed as of 2010; it’s 2020 now. This creates considerable traffic in the
job market that even those who hold bachelor’s degrees find it hard to land a decent job that pays
enough to live by.
With 36 million Filipinos employed, the Philippine Government estimates that only about 2.2
million employees actually do well out of the OSH protection and services and most of the nation’s
workforce do not benefit from acceptable working conditions. Resulting from this are the tens of
thousands of occupational injuries and accidents revealed by the latest Bureau of Labor and
Employment Statistics (BLES) Integrated Survey (BITS) in 2010. But even with the data gathered by
concerned government units, OSH conditions in the country is still not utterly represented and a lot of
OSH-related issues are still left without solutions. One complication is that work-related incidents are
not always reported. Even with rules concerning the matter, very few companies submit their reports
where and when it is due. Most establishments even confidently hire personnel who have no OSH
training and hold little to no knowledge about the precautionary basics. This loophole provides a
constant swell in the number of cases in work-related problems and causes an implication which
suggests that OSH training is impractical and unprofitable. The administration could also be at fault. A
weak framework in which the OSH laws are being implemented is not exactly ideal for any company,
at all. Since most establishments proceed inattentively with their operations, OSH violations get
dismissed more often than not and are set aside without the proper sanctions. Emerging concerns, on
the other hand, are directly related with women workers’ issues, OSH in child labor, OSH in the
informal sector, agriculture, in schools and lifestyle diseases such as AIDS and diabetes, and many
others.
These issues that the country faces in the employment sector will continue on if both the
employers and employees fail to work as a unit. It is the job of both to actively participate in securing
a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and
duties. Each life is vital and each job is significant. National occupational safety and health is a right to
a secure and thriving working environment. The only way to promote this is to establish a workplace
where the highest priority is accorded to the principle of prevention and the strict implementation of
proper health and safety regulations.