#  >  > Thailand Festivals, Beaches, Scuba Diving and Temples, Tell us Your Tales >  >  > Thailands Festivals and Celebrations >  >  Thailand National Work Safety Day

## dirtydog

*WORK SAFETY DAY OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Learn to take precautions, don't rely on compensation, workers told* 

*PENCHAN CHAROENSUTHIPAN* 

National Work Safety Day has been marked with a call for people to be made more aware of occupational health hazards instead of simply relying on compensation being paid. Paisit Panichkul, of Chiang Mai University's law faculty, said society had become so accustomed to claiming compensation it failed to take proper note of the need for precautions. 

''When there is a case of an occupational disease, people talk about compensation and rehabilitation for the victims and their families when they should be talking about ensuring an adequate safety system exists in the workplace,'' he said. 

The lack of public awareness about occupational safety and health has been put down to the long delay in the establishment of an institute of labour safety. 

National Work Safety Day marks the anniversary of the horrific Kader toy factory fire on May 10, 1993, which claimed the lives of 188 employees. 

Lae Dilokwittyarat, of Chulalongkorn University's economics faculty, said the compensation was never enough to make good the economic and social costs incurred by the losses of workers' health or lives. 

Thirasak Chukhundtod, of the Lawyers Council, said workers were always at a disadvantage when it came to a lawsuit. 

''They are not readily equipped for a legal battle. They lack money and equal access to information which they can use in court,'' he said. 

When workers took their plight to court the lengthy legal procedure meant long delays in the rehabilitation process. This was the case with some textile workers who died from a lung disease before the lawsuit was finalised. 

Somboon Sikamdokkae, leader of the textile workers' group, said of 37 ill people who filed a case against Bangkok Textile Co three had died and the case was still not settled. 

She and her colleagues had been in and out of court rooms over 12 years in pursuit of a claim for 50 million baht in compensation. 

They suffer from byssinosis, also known as brown lung, which is caused by exposure to cotton dust in inadequately ventilated working environments. It commonly occurs in people employed in the textile industry and can ultimately result in death from infection or respiratory failure. 
The lawsuit is being reviewed by the Supreme Court after the Central Labour Court ruled in the workers' favour and ordered the company to pay 120,000 baht to each complainant. 

Bangkok Post

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## sabang

The work safety in Thailand never ceases to aghast me.
What next- national road safety day?

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## Spin

Apparently all those guys who work on wooden scaffolding will be given steel structures to work on for the specail day.
Its being paid for by the tooth fairy.

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