News from LO, Bulgaria and Romania

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LO Norway in its first joint project with Romanian and Bulgarian partners – improved focus on health and safety in the workplace through strengthened social dialogue.

 
In 2007 LO Norway (http://www.lo.no/)  established a H&S project under the Norwegian Cooperation Program administrated by Innovation Norway in Romania and Bulgaria. In January 2009, Innovation Norway awarded grants for both projects, and by June 2009, the activities started in both countries.

Already in the projects’ initial phase it was important for LO to create strong partnerships in both Romania and Bulgaria, creating a good foundation for exchange of competence and experiences.

After the initial start of the project the question to be answered would be “how does one go about on a concrete level to try to set a new and improved standard in the field of H&S?”  The answer is an improved social dialogue through capacity building.  Through a series of training seminars, both projects aim to strengthen and build capacity in the working environment committees at the work place.  The idea is to show that there is no contradiction between improving the safety of the workers and at the same time increase the productivity of the company. On the contrary, to ensure the safety is to ensure increased productivity.

To achieve this, the following activities are already completed:

  • Established a functioning project organisation, with the necessary equipment, resources and materials
  • Active use of online tools to inform, develop and tutor both the participants and other with an interest in the field. This is done through well-developed websites in both countries. (RO: http://www.comitetessm.ro) (BG: http://www.hse-bg.org/)
  • Developed and designed multimedia training kits for the purpose of use in the seminars completed so far.
  • Completed or are about to complete the first string of H&S training seminars. In Romania region based seminars with representation from selected work places in five different regions and in Bulgaria through completing three seminars for trade unionists from the pilot sectors Transport, Metallurgy and Health Care.  All of the seminars so far have been implemented with contributions and exchange of experiences from Norwegian experts in H&S.
  • Designed different kinds of information material, for example in Romania project newsletters about the project and in Bulgaria bulletin on living standards and working conditions.
  • In addition, Romania has also established a Resource and Information Center (RIC) (http://www.comitetessm.ro/centrul-de-resurse-si-informare), providing services for the members of the trade unions.

In short, the above sum up some of the activities from the initial phase of the project. Still, there is a lot of ground to be covered. Many more activities are well on their way in both of the projects and many more are under planning. LO Norway aims to set a new standard for international H&S cooperation through the fundamental focus on social dialogue.