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23 April, 2007
One of Colombia’s national labour centres, United Workers’ Confederation (CUT) will cooperate with the National Trade Union School (Escuela Nacional Sindical) and the Inter Trade Union Organisation for the Health of Workers of Antioquía (INSISTA, or Intersindical De Salud Y Trabajo de Antioquía) to host a major seminar entitled “Work Related Accidents and Decent Work.”
The conference will be held on 30 April at the Antioquía University. An expected 200 union representatives and workplace safety experts will attend. In addition, a special publication called “Karoshi: To Die Working” will be available that provides analysis of Colombia’s workplace deaths in 2006.
The country’s Social Protection Ministry estimates that 870 workers – three per day – die each year due to workplace accidents, and that some 590,000 workplace health or safety incidents occur annually.
Colombia has ratified ILO Convention 174, the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention, but has not ratified ILO Convention 176, the Safety and Health in Mines Conventions, and ILO Convention 155, the Occupational Safety and Health Convention.
ICEM drew attention to the Colombian government’s non-ratification of these two conventions, following a pair of devastating coal mining accidents in early February. In one, in Gámeza, Boyacá state, where eight people died at an illegal mine, one of the fatalities was a 13-year-old boy. This disaster occurred on 6 February. Three days earlier, 32 miners perished when two inter-connected mines collapsed due to an underground explosion. That happened near Sardinata, Norte de Santander state.
The ICEM, together with the ITUC, expressed deep concern at not only the circumstances of the Gámeza disaster, but also the inadequate safety measures in place at the San Roque and La Preciosa mines in Norte de Santander state. The two global labour organisations called, on the deadly occasions of these twin catastrophes, on the government of Colombia to ratify ILO Conventions 176 and 155.