The political document for Health and Safety at Work and its implementation action plan (2016-2020) (the "Political Document and Action Plan") was recently approved by Council of Ministers. The relevant Decision is already published in the Official Journal and shall enter into force by June 11, 2016.
The Political Document and Action Plan was drafted by the Albanian Government under the direction of Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth in collaboration with other ministries, state institutions, and social partners and supported by the technical assistance of ILO. It is made in accordance with the Albanian Government's vision and priorities provided in the National Strategy for Integration and Development (2015-2020), National Strategy for Skills and Employment (2014-2020), European Union Strategy for Health and Safety at Work (2014-2020), the Global Strategy on Occupational Health for all of the World Health Organization, and the Action Plan of ILO (2010-2016).
The Political Document is a modern instrument for the protection of rights and interests of employees, and its strategic vision is the creation of decent working conditions for more productivity and less informality, aiming to fill the gaps of the previous action plan leading to better results. The Action Plan is a complementary document that provides the specific measures that will be taken in every priority area, identifying every responsible public institution, deadlines and every related indicator, as well as to encourage the collaboration between the line ministries, government agencies, employers and trade unions, but also to reduce the business costs by using the government budget and the contributions from other donors, of which the most important are ILO and European Union.
In order to achieve these goals, the Political Document and Action Plan consists in 3 main pillars determining the priorities, strategies and the expected results:
A: Improved protection of labour force: the strengthen of policy and legal framework of Health and Safety at Work, drafting specific policies in accordance with European Union standards and other international standards. Over the years many laws have changed and have been adapted based on the European social model standards, making possible the incorporation of the European Union's criteria, recommendations and directives. With the help of European project IPA, many other regulations are drafted and are waiting to be approved by the Council of Ministers, regulations which transpose the remaining part of the individual EU directives related to Health and Safety at Work, such as, directive on protection of health and safety from risks in the mining industry, on protection of young employees, list of the occupational diseases, the duties of the doctor of the company, the rules, types and procedures for medical examinations, etc.
B: Decent working condition, safer and healthier: promotion of decent working condition by consolidating the tripartite social dialogue which will provide the preventive measures and safer workplaces.
C: Building up an effective system and transparent institutions for Health and Safety at Work: the development of a transparent governance system and effective institutions of Health and Safety at Work, based on improved inspection services in order to achieve the decrease of hazardous incidents, occupational diseases and violation of labour law.
An important part of the Political Document and Action Plan is the adoption by the Albanian Government of "the sectorial approach for the political coordination" as the main institutional mechanism, defined as Integrated Policy Management Groups (IPMG). IPMG will accomplish the political coordination of the Political Document and Action Plan. Its main function is to advise, to lead and coordinate the institutions that are included in specific sectors, in order to develop and implement the Sectorial National Program.
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