KARACHI, Oct 17: Experts at the concluding session of a seminar on “Occupational health, safety and environment” on Friday called for lawmaking to effectively deal with natural calamities and emergency situations at local industrial concerns and units and urged the government to promulgate the Emergency Services Ordinance-2002 by introducing necessary amendments to it without any further delay.

“The government should prepare laws for protection of skilled workforce employed at local industrial concerns and industries, and promulgate and implement them effectively”, they said.

They demanded conferment of civil awards on those who served the nation in times of natural calamities and disasters.

The third national seminar was held by the Institution of Engineers Pakistan and over 100 environmentalists, fire safety experts, industrialists and specialists on occupational health working at multinational, national, private and government industries attended from all over the country and abroad.

Speaking at concluding session, Senator Tanveer Khalid said there was a need for intensifying the process of lawmaking and deplored that parliamentarians were ignoring their utmost task.

She opined that engineers are the backbone of a country’s economic development and the government should take them into confidence before formulating and implementing policies of national interest.

On the occasion, the Senator assured the participants of the seminar that recommendations of the IEP seminar would be presented before the Senate in the form of a bill, and expressed the hope that the opposition would support her on this important national issue.

IEP president M.P. Gangwani said country needs such laws which ensure action against all those, whose negligence results in accidental death of any worker at local industries.

“Existence of laws would prevent incidents like grounding of MT Tasman Spirit, the Greek-registered oil tanker which ruined the Karachi coast”, he said and adding that the IEP would continue play its role and hold seminars and conferences regularly.

Khalid Qureshi, IEP Karachi centre chairman in its welcome address opined that lawmakers should treat the issue of protection of human lives seriously and pass laws in this regard.

Earlier, Abdullah Farooqi presented recommendations compiled by experts at the seminar and said training centres for workforce at local industrial concerns and units be established in major cities of the country.

IEP secretary I H Siddiqui and Anwarul Haq Siddiqui also spoke.—PPI