Occupational Health and Safety Assessment of the Industries in Bhutan: A Three Years’ Trend Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Workplace plays an important role in the lives of not only workers but also their dependents and families. Therefore, it is very important to consider safety and health in every workplace. However, the health and safety standards in Bhutan is still at a premature stage. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the overall occupational health and safety situation in the country to better understand the level of occupational safety and health standards in the country. Methods: All the enterprises in Bhutan, who had constituted a health and safety committee in 2016 to 2017 were considered. Structured questioners were used for assessing and evaluating the health and safety standards at the workplace. Results: The study found that the health and safety standards have improved however, improved marginally with the higher percentage of improvement falling in the fair practice of health and safety at their workplace. Conclusion: The Department of Labour plays a pivotal role in taking leadership and educating employers, employees, the general public on workplace safety and health . Therefore, it is important for the Department to rigorously enforce the safety and health standards in the companies. Further, the management of the companies also needs to ensure commitment and leadership for implementation of workplace safety and health.