The Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) chief operating officer, Navin Chandra, yesterday applauded the employees of Labasa FSC Mill for a good safety record with no deaths or major incidents.

“We have had minor incidences, but from 2011 there has been a decrease in the number of incidence and decrease in the number of hours where employees took time off when being ill,” Mr Chandra said.

Mr Chandra was speaking to over 400 employees during the Occupational Health and Safety celebration at the FSC Tennis Court in Labasa.

The day was marked with competition and the 22 departments of FSC organised a special drama. The FSC chief executive officer Graham Clark also present and participated in the competitions such as the tug or war.

“Behavioural safety is very important and I would like to challenge you all to commend on people who work for maintaining safety,” Mr Chandra said.

“We normally pick on the person who does wrong.

“Positive reinforcement will go for a long way and hence I would like to encourage uplifting those who work for safety.

“We are blessed with a Government and Ministry of Labour who puts so much effort in maintaining safety at work.

“I am very passionate about safety and the reason is that it’s associated with the people.

“If we do not have a safe working environment there is no use for an annual report and big meeting because at the end of the day we want to make sure that we value our employees.”

According to the International Labour Organisation the latest stats show that there are about two million fatalities around the world that comes from work related incidences and illness.

Edited by Rusiate Mataika

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