Occupational Safety and Healthreport in Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG)

Country’s brief geographical information
First of all, we are five participant come from Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG). All participants are delighted to attend JICA
Counterpart Training Program “ Capacity Building for Workers in
Health and Safety Management” We would like to cover all outlined
criteria that you have asked us.
Iraqi Kurdistan, officially called Kurdistan Region is located in thenorth of Iraq, also it is located in the Middle East, and the Region isofficially governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. Due tothe absence of proper census, the Population of Kurdistan is 6
million people. The Kurdistan Region is largely mountainous there
are many rivers flowing and running through mountains. The
mountainous nature of Kurdistan, the difference of temperatures in
its various parts, and its wealth of waters make Kurdistan land ofagriculture and tourism. The Climate of the Region very hot and dryin summer, cold and wet in winter. The Region’s economy isdominated by the oil industry; due to relative peace in the Region it
has a more developed economy in comparison to other parts ofIraq.

OSH Context includes laws, regulation and systems in KRG
The national profile on occupational safety and health in general in Iraq
is an inventory which summarizes the existing situation on occupationalsafety and health and the progress made towards achieving a safe andhealthy working environment.
Under the OSH Act employers are responsible for providing a safe andhealthful workplace. The employer must provide their employees withjob and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that arecausing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm.
Among other actions some requirements, standards and regulations inpart require to do the following: 1. Provide well‐maintained tools andequipment including appropriate personal protective equipment. 2.
Provide medical examination, 3. Provide training. 4. Keep records ofwork‐related accident, injuries. 5. Do not discriminate against
employees.
Country’s safety conditions today most workplaces and construction
projects are completely devoid of any coherent attempt to prevent
accident, if anything happens it is considered by many to be simply fate.
Walking through out construction site, workers can be seen without
the most pieces of personal protective equipment, it is more likely
accident waiting to happen.

Structure and system of the Organization

Our Department of occupational safety and health encourages us tokeep in touch with all workers, safety should be priority in any
workplace and Accidents can be prevented if everyone beware ofcommon workplace safety issue.

duties as Occupational Safety Manager
Our Duties as Occupational safety manger is to supervise andmonitor all workplaces, because an effective inspection system isessential to promote and monitor OSH legislations. In addition,others duties are regular inspection of the work places anddistribute the preventive culture among the workers.
Reporting hazards and accidents in the workplace. We will insurethat each workplace is inspected for hazardous conditions we will
post notices of unsafe or unhealthful working conditions foundduring the inspections for a minimum 7 working days or until thehazard is corrected.
In order to enable inspectors to take such steps they shall beempowered. Also we have a good relationship with Syndicate ofworkers that has a link with workers affairs.
The enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health provisions atplaces of work regulates that all work places are to appoint person
in charge of Occupational Safety.

The major challenges in carrying out our duties

In today’s rapidly changing workplace, we can do a lot to reduce
workplace accidents simply by educating employees, the biggest
challenges is many workers are uneducated, and absence of preventive
culture among workers.

Current overall setback of (KRG) Occupational Safety andHealth Management

Current seatback and frailer of Iraqi and Kurdistan RegionalGovernment( KRG) Occupational Safety and Health management isincreasing the number of death accidents among workers due tothe lack of preventive equipment and weak of law and absence of
training and Education center.
We all participants look forward to obtain and acquire a lot of
information from this program In Japan could be useful for ourcountry because Japan has a very good record in safety and healthsector.