Cost Cutting of Companies

[pornobi6767]

Is there any way to get an appointment with Dir. Atty Villafuerte? My current employer is implementing cost cutting. It sponsors attending to seminars only if strongly endorsed by DOLE-BWC.

[asppinatlprexy]

Basically, it is the prerogative of any company whether to send their employees to training or not. I believe since the training is related to compliance of our OSH laws or part of ISO requirement then it will be easier for you to justify it. Other than that, many companies now would like to see a return of their investment like training and that needs more effort in your justification. Good luck.

[stryker]

Yes, basically as Safety Officers/Practitioners in your company you should be the middle man between the rank and file and the top level. I hope you get to read the meaning of a Safety Officer I wrote in one thread. The more you make them see the importance of the program the more involved they become. You could get in touch with Dir. Brenda of BWC at their head office in Intramuros....But if you want trainings please get in touch with Dr. Tess Cucuco of the OSHC in Diliman.

[safety advocate]

Dear Colleagues in OSH practice:

Hope I can express my view on this thread since I am a bit struggling in one of the comments that Training specifically on Safety and Health is a prerogative of a company. I beg to disagree to this statement if we consider the provisions of the Philippines OSH Standard (law of the land on OSH) particularly Rules 1030, 1040, 1070, 1080, 1410, and 1964 among others. The FIre Code PD 1185 also mention a lot on fire response training/drill and that is mandatory under Sec. 9.111 up to Sec. 9.116.

It is incumbent upon us Safety Practictioners as Advisors to Management to familiarize ourselves with the OSH laws and explain to them that this is something that is indispensable. While I agree that some companies especially the multinational ones are more proactive when it comes to employee training, there is a minimum law requirement that nees to be complied. A report on training program is also submitted by Safety Officers every year and what can be done here is to convince management that the absence of training program will constitute violation of the country's OSH laws.

While I think an appointment with the Director is not necessary, her prodding through a follow-up letter or phone call to the Bosses will surely help. ASPPI is hosting a symposium tomorrow Dec 4 and maybe you Pornobi 6767 can approach her during the session breaks and plead your case for possible assistance.

There are a lot of Safety Training Organizations out there and I am not endorsing any but some of them are really professional and good. Suggest you look at the profile first of the speakers of STOs and analyze their experience and competency. You can also ask for testimonies from previous training participants.

Thanks,

Safety Advocate

[ChemEng]

In my experience of being a safety officer/OSH practitioner, you just don't need to know about technical safety but also about legal safety - meaning, as practitioners/officers it is expected that we also know the law, the standards and regulations, because only with these laws and regulations can we justify the relevance, urgency, or need of a particular OSH training to our employers/bosses who prefer to cut costs. It is important that we study the national and international standards, we do not need to be lawyers, but at the very least, we need to be knowledgeable enough about certain regulations applicable to our workplaces and industry; only then can we effectively identify the specific trainings we need in our company and backed up with legal justifications to expect support from our management, also you might want to express the benefits of safety in terms of monetary, you can show the cost-benefit analysis - how much would you save, return of investment - quantify not just qualify; you could also ask assistance from BWC-DOLE to give additional support and command to require your company to have those trainings, so that employers will be obliged to comply, for a start. You might consider inviting the Director of BWC to visit your worksite/company to meet the bosses; BWC would be very glad to hear from you and ASPPI is the best avenue for it. However, it is also important that after the training, improvements on OSH competency and compliance, legally and technically, should be seen by your employer as an immediate return of investment. Recommend programs and projects after the trainings, this way your employer will see that the investment has not gone to waste.

[kureireika]

In simple terms.

Let the company know what will they get out of your training.
ROI or return of investments.

[stryker]

In addition, there are lots of STO sprouting around. Be sure they are DOLE Accredited. I am sorry I was not available for today's affair as we would be meeting tomorrow for the strategic planning of the Zamboanga Peninsula OSH Network. We just launched the organizational meeting last Nov 14 with 100+ participants from around the region. Dra. Tess was with us and supposedly Dir. Brenda but she begged off due to prior commitments.