A month-long campaign to ensure healthy and safe working conditions has commenced on February 25 in the forestry organisations of the Vitebsk region, as reported to BELTA correspondent by Sergey Anufriev, First Deputy Head of the regional department of the State Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.
The objective of the campaign is to prevent occupational injuries and eliminate violations of labour protection legislation in forestry organisations. Additional measures will be taken to strengthen labour and production discipline and create healthy and safe working conditions at each workplace: employees are provided with personal protective equipment, machinery, serviceable tools, equipment, and devices.
The work of mobile groups in logging and woodworking organisations will be intensified. These groups provide methodological assistance to organisation heads and specialists on labour protection issues. Furthermore, a seminar on this topic and other events will be held. Managers who fail to ensure safe working conditions will be held accountable in the established manner.
According to operational data from the regional department of the State Labour Inspectorate, four fatal occupational accidents have occurred in the organisations of the Vitebsk region since the beginning of the year. In two of these cases, employees of the region's forestry enterprises died while felling trees. In 2018, one fatal occupational accident and two resulting in severe occupational injuries were registered in the organisations of the forestry institutions of the Vitebsk region.
The Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association comprises 19 forestry enterprises. The forest fund managed by the Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association covers 1,657.1 thousand hectares, which constitutes 87.5% of the forests in the Vitebsk region. Over 6.5 thousand people are employed by the association.-0-