OHS Practices in Food Industry - IEP Karachi Centre

Standardization (ISO) 2 . While several pieces of legislation touch OHS issues, there ishardly any concrete effort by government to develop a comprehensive environmentalhealth and safety law. In 2001, the government announced a Labor Policy Initiative andproposed to create a National Occupational Safety and Health Council (NOSHC) toreview and update the existing laws. However, none of that has materialized yet(Akram, 2004). Thus, Pakistan, at present, like many developing countries does nothave comprehensive occupational health and safety legislation. The incidence ofinjuries and illnesses is probably very high in Pakistan because thousands of workersare routinely exposed to hazardous chemicals and harsh working conditions, howeverno reliable data is available to quantify this probability. The regulatory agencies do nothave an effective enforcement policy or strict requirements for reporting workplaceinjuries and illnesses (Awan, 2001).An overview of the existing laws/regulations partly related to occupational health andsafety shows several pieces of legislation, such as Factories Act, 1934; ProvincialFactories Rules; Hazardous Occupations Rules, 1963; Mines Act, 1923; West PakistanShops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969; Provincial Employees Social SecurityOrdinance, 1965; Workmen‟s Compensation Act, 1923 and Dock Laborers Act, 1934relate to this issue (Shafi, 1986). The regulations are, however, fragmented and there isno single comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with occupational safety andhealth. The Factories Act, established in 1934 and amended in 1997, requires only avery basic level of safety and health measures. There are no guidelines for minimumqualifications or employment of health and safety professionals in the industry. Severalimportant sectors, such as agriculture, construction and informal/self-employed are noteven covered under any law (Awan, 2002).Food industry is a vast industry that covers a wide scope. Owing to the very fact thatfood industry is one of the largest in a country, it is logical to assume that the potentialof OHS incidents is also quite high. Figure 1 shows an international trend of injuries invarious industrial sectors compared to that of Food and Drink industry internationally.The food and drink industries as described here include animal feed manufacture butexclude distribution, retail and catering.2 International Organization of Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland