Last February, 39 employees of the Insurance Commission participated in the first roll out of the Resilient Occupational Safety and Health (ROSH) Workshop developed by Resilient.PH collaborator Richard Legarda. The 8-hour intensive workshop highlights the resilience aspects of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) that ideally is over and beyond that is required by law.
Legarda, together with fellow collaborator Randell Kitt Botero, both members of the pioneer batch of graduates of the Executive Master in Disaster Risk and Crisis Management (EMDRCM) Program of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), facilitated the 2-day online workshop that was designed to drive a deeper appreciation of OSH from the perspectives of both the institution (the employer) and the employees.
According to Legarda, “Many people are under the impression that OSH is something that must be done out of compliance. In reality, OSH must be borne out of the company’s vision and mission (and its vision for its people) while at the same time grounded on every employee’s right to be safe and healthy so they can continue to provide for their families.”
In the beginning of the workshop, Legarda explained that organizations that are fixated on simply complying with the bare minimum requirement of the law oftentimes fail to set up holistic programs that effectively address risks and hazards across the four phases of disaster (or shock) management – prevention, preparation, response and recovery.
“This workshop is a real eye-opener for many of our employees.” said IC Admin Division Manager Ivy Mojica. “This is the first time that we’ve had this type of workshop and we really appreciate how Mr. Legarda explained Resilient OSH.”
Deputy Commissioner Atty. Erickson Balmes also expressed his appreciation of the workshop saying that “Awareness and Preparedness is always 50% of our success in any battle. It leads to the empowerment of our people to do the right thing, at the right time and at the right place. Thank you sirs Richard and Kitt for the knowledge you imparted!”
