SAFETY IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - PROFESSIONAL AND BUREAUCRATIC PROBLEMS

In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administratio n (OSHA) was created to enhance safety in the workplace. Employers are subject to OSHA site inspections and must conform to a set of compreh ensive rules and regulations. In contrast, in a developing country suc h as India, comprehensive and universal safety regulations have not be en developed. Workers are generally unskilled or semiskilled, poorly p aid, temporarily employed, exhibit low production (productivity) rates , and often migrate in a group from one place to another in search of work. Typically, laborers are not trained in safe work practices, and there tends to be a lack of management commitment to safety programs a nd various safety procedures. In contrast, in a newly developed countr y such as Taiwan, the owner and the contractor are assigned joint resp onsibility for claims resulting from occupational accidents. A basic s afety-control system, emphasizing the establishment of a safety commit tee and self inspection, has been developed to control project safety. This system may be universally applicable to both developed and devel oping regions.