Guide to occupational safety, health and social security for MSMEs launched

Bengaluru, Sept 28 (KNN) A Book titled Vision Zero with 7 Golden Rules highlighting the importance and applications of safety measures to be adapted in MSMEs was released by B.K. Sahu, Director, Indo German Focal Point (IGFP), New Delhi and other dignitaries at a regional workshop on occupational safety, health and social security for MSME sector (Small Businesses). It was held by MSME Development Institute, Ministry of MSME, and Government of India in association with Indo German Focal Point, New Delhi today at KASSIA.

In his audio-visual presentation, Sahu threw light on the routine business sectors, street vendors and their success in delivering their product on time to the consumer, and juxtaposed the change over to the new product between the unorganized and organized sector, without any academic qualification and management tools like SAP, ERP, etc., while also dwelling on the mind-numbing hardships faced by the migrants from different States during the Pandemic.

Dr R. Elangoven, Director-General, FASIL, Ministry of Labour, cited statistics on the working population in organized and unorganized sector and reiterating the safety measures to be followed by industries, informed how the union labour ministry was motivating MSMEs through the PM Shram Award, Vishwa Karmik Award and Rashtriya Puraskar Award for adopting best safety measures. Various steps were taken by the Ministry in imparting knowledge and awareness on the safety measures online during the Pandemic, he said and stressed that the focus should be on achieving zero accidents at the workplace.

Prof Karl Heinz Noetel, Senior Advisor, DGUV shared his views on the problems faced by the MSME sector worldwide and said it was a great challenge for the mankind to survive the pandemic situation and bring the global market to its normalcy and stay competitive in future.

A.K. Sahoo, Additional Commissioner and Regional Director, ESIC, Ministry of Labour, explained the Atal Bihari Vikas Kalyan Yojana and the various social security schemes available for COVID victims.

Dr G. Manjunath, Additional Labour Commissioner, Dept. of Labour, GOK, briefed on the importance of the 4 labour codes introduced by the Labour Ministry for the benefit of the MSMEs and for ensuring the safety of the workers and added that the government had simplified all the procedures to ease the compliance requirement of MSMEs.

G.R. Akadas, IEDS, Director, MSME-DI, Bengaluru, demonstrated how there is always a reluctance and resistance to change in society, giving the example of Swachh Bharat mission which later proved to be a great success, and said safety measures should not wait till they are enforced and must be embraced at the outset itself.

Presenting a perspective of MSMEs hit by the pandemic, P. Shashidhar, KASSIA said the workers’ safety was paramount and not to be ignored at the time of Covid-19 and small scale industries had no option other than to look up to their government at the State as well as the Centre, for a special package for revival, and while to some extent the governments did respond but as always, the expectations are belied due to many constraints and ground realities, legitimate and otherwise. However he hoped that the industry will emerge stronger from the experience, as the economy by all accounts was poised for a rebound.

The workshop ended after a series of technical sessions with vote of thanks by K. Devaraj, IEDS, Joint Director, Br. MSME-DI, Mangaluru.