CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATION SAFETY AND HEALTH (COSH)

Reflection Paper
By: Jane Ruth F. Mariano, BSCE 2-3

Health and safety is mainly about providing a safe and healthy workplace to the
employees. It is done to ensure that risks to employee’s safety and health are precisely
being controlled. Created by virtue of Executive Order No. 307, on November 1987 by
then President Corazon C. Aquino, the OSHC is envisioned as the national authority for
research and training on matters pertaining to safety and health at work. It provides the
expertise and intervention mechanism to improve workplace conditions in the Philippines.
One of the mandatory 40-hour training courses required for safety officers working in the
construction industry under Rule 1030 of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards
(OSHS) and the DOLE Department Order No. 13, s. 1998: Guidelines Governing Safety
and Health in the Construction Industry. This training aims to equip participants with the
basic knowledge and skills in performing safety audits, assessments and analysis of
hazards and risks in the construction industry; determining appropriate control measures
and developing and implementing OSH policies and programs. This is offered by the
OSHC, Occupational Safety and Health Networks (OSHNets), and DOLE-accredited
Safety Training Organizations (STOs).

Luckily, we are blessed to have undergone the COSH Training on October 5-6,
12-13, 2019 under the FRReal Occupational Health and Safety Training Services,
Headed by the General Manager and our 4-day Speaker, Mr. Wendell Bert V. Dela Cruz
as a requirement for our ENGR 3210 (Engineering Management, Safety and Health)
subject under Mr. Roy Searca Jose P. Dela Cruz.

Upon briefing us about the Training Program, I couldn’t get any more excited and
all I was thinking back then was the opportunities I’ve be given after I finished the training
which is very thrilling because of the advantages and capability I’ll be having after the
training. Of course, Sir Wendell is a very good speaker and encourager to all of us. I am
amazed by knowing some of the unsafe / unhealthy acts and conditions done in the
workplace which I have no Idea at all before. Knowing that and the actions we could do
to prevent or minimize unnecessary or accidents to happen is such a fulfilling moment,
knowing that I could do something for myself even if it’s a simple act, it will mean a lot in
the long run and also do it for my family and to the people around me specially those who
need help in the workplace. Undergoing of the training helped us realized how to properly
monitor and survey occupational and work-related injuries and illnesses. Also a healthy
lifestyle at an early age was also imparted to us which made me very interested of doing
so and realizing I only have one life to take care of. Materials handling and storage is a
very big part of the training. Letting us know how to properly handle equipment’s and
materials basically gives us the prior knowledge on what we’ll going to do in the future
work. The emergency response preparedness was taught to us during our CWTS and
ROTC subjects but they elaborated it here in the training which makes it very clear to
understand and to safely do. The fire safety, electrical safety and machine safety is a very
crucial one. They have taught us the basics which we already known even before so they
must’ve taught us more about it. The Personal Protective Equipment which is the most
important thing we should have but they didn’t brought it to show us how to use it and
what are we going to use in a specific time or day. They just showed us through video
clips which is not entirely informing at all. Dealing with risks and hazards are not properly
discuss but they made sure we are properly aware of the differences of the two and the
different kinds of ricks and hazards and I’m fine with that. Industrial Hygiene played a very
important part in the training program. Letting us know what are the proper way or system
of processes in preventing and controlling of hazards arising from work gave me a huge
amount of information. The safety inspection and accident investigations are not
discussed and relayed to us properly. Putting positive behavior reinforcement to work is
a very good idea. Because we know nowadays teenagers and young people like me tends
to deal a lot of situations which we lose our focus on what we’re doing so having informed
about this is a peace of mind. Of course the safety in communication is a very important
one. We know how and what miscommunications leads to and we don’t want that to
happen to us so knowing about this is very helpful to us and we get to practice it every
day in our lives.

Last is the Laws and Policies by the government about this training is a big help
knowing we need safety officers in the workplace and not having one could be difficult not
just to the engineers but mainly to the workers. We must always think about our safety
whether what we are doing and remember that we have families and loved ones who are
there always waiting for us to go home. So having this Training Program helped me build
my skills and abilities to the workplace and gave me enough information about what to do
and how to prevent and control safety and health issues.