SSC, ILO sign agreement to improve workplace safety in factories

AMMAN — The Social Security Corperation (SSC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Monday signed an agreement that seeks to enhance workplace safety in factories.

The agreement aims at promoting the culture of work safety in industrial institutions out of their social and economic responsibilities towards workers and the entire community, said SSC Director General Nadia Rawabdeh.

Under the agreement, the two sides will cooperate in raising awareness on professional safety with the aim of decreasing the injury rate, and of developing regulations governing the issue.

They will also evaluate establishments’ commitment to regulations, exchange expertise in relevant matters and encourage job owners to commit to the ILO’s professional safety regulations.

Speaking at the signing event, Rawabdeh stressed that professional safety is an integral part of a safe working environment and a contributor to workers’ productivity.

The SSC’s new law obliges establishments to apply safety measures on the working site, as well as paying 4 per cent of work-related injury fees instead of 2 per cent.

Establishments are also required to cover medical expenses in case an injury takes place when no precaution measure was exercised, Rawabdeh added.

For his part, Head of the ILO’s “Better Work” project, Tareq Abu Qaoud, said the agreement seeks to provide “more appropriate” job environments for labourers at factories, noting that improving working conditions enhances workers’ productivity and boosts economic competitiveness among factories and establishments.

The construction sector registers the highest number of work-related injuries, mainly due to poor abidance by safety and health standards, lack of training among workers, limited oversight and control, and the absence of a comprehensive framework for the application of safety standards for the construction sector, SSC officials said in previous remarks.

SSC’s Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi told The Jordan Times that the importance of the agreement lays in the fact that most of the factories subscribed to the ILO’s project work in the garment sector and can highly benefit from boosting workers’ productivity and increase exports to Europe based on the simplified rules of origin.

Indicators from 2015 show that one worker at private establishments dies from a work-related injury every four days, he said.

Nearly 53 per cent of those subjected to work-related injuries are under 30 years of age, a matter that indicates poor training on professional safety measures, Sbeihi noted.

The average work-related injury rate is 18.13 for every 1,000 SSC subscribers, while it reaches 45.1 for every 1,000 subscribers working in the construction sector.