Meeting on IwAP Mo

The DOLE-RO6 invited partner agencies, intermediaries and advocates to discuss the development of the DOLE-RO6 initiated, “Iwas Aksidente Patrol Mo,” project and its possible adoption.

Partners present were representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), Western Visayas Occupational Safety and Health Network, Inc. (WVOSHNET, Inc.), Safety Organization of Negros Occidental, Inc. (SONO, Inc.), Contractors Network of Negros O

ccidental, Inc. (CONNO, Inc.), and Philippine College of Occupational Medicine (PCOM).

Ponciano M. Ligutom, Regional Director of DOLE-RO6, emphasized the role of the department as facilitators in the implementation of the various programs, projects and activities on occupational safety and health. “We believe that if we work together, we can make a push for safety and health. That is the reality of public-private partnership/convergence. We need to be the vision keepers,” he added.

Mr. Stephene Barredo, representative of ECC, presented the “Work Hazard and Accident Report System”

IwAP mo!, is a concept of the DOLE Regional Office 6 that calls on workers and ordinary citizens to actively support in the advocacy and promotion of safety and health in hazardous workplaces in the region. It was conceptualized and implemented due to low ratio of Labor Laws Compliance Officers (LLCOs) versus the increasing number of establishments, minimal opportunity for OSH violations committed in plain view of LLCOs, and new construction sites and other hazardous workplaces mushrooming in the region without the knowledge of the DOLE, thus are not included in the roster of establishments subject to the visits of the LLCOs.