Dear Friends, 

Please find attached press invites in english and hindi for the Book Release of two publications "Kaam mein suraksha aur uske kanoon" and ‘Manual on Low Cost Technological Solutions for Health Hazards and Environmental Impacts of Textile Production’by Hazards Centre, a unit of Sanchal Foundation. Both the publications are on Occupational Health and Safety and have been published after in depth studies held across the country. The event is on 16th September 2013, Monday and the gathering will be addressed by Dilip Simeon, Prof. Sudarshan Khanna, Rita Kapoor and Workers' Activists Ved Prakash(DJB) and Raghuraj (Wazirpur Industrial Area). The book release is scheduled for 2 p.m at the Press Club of India.

We hope you will join us for this event and will stay with us for tea and snacks.

Regards

Sunayana

9911550840

PRESS INVITE

Dear Friends,

We would like to invite you for the book release of two publications on Occupational Health and Workers Safety on 16th September 2013 (Monday) at 2 p.m. at the Press Club Of India, 1 Raisina Road, New Delhi. The Book release will be addressed by :

Dilip Simeon, who has been a visiting scholar at the Universities of Surat, Sussex, Chicago, Leiden and Princeton. From 1998 till 2003 he worked as Research Fellow on conflict with Oxfam (India) Trust. He has published extensively on historical and political issues in various newspapers and academic journals. Dilip is now chairperson of the Aman Trust, which works to understand and reduce violent social conflict.His first novel, Revolution Highway, was published by Penguin India in September 2010.)

Prof. Sudarshan Khanna, who is a design educator, author and designer. He has been associated with the National Institute of Design (NID), India for more than 35 years. Prof. Khanna was the chairperson of Education and Research Departments at NID. He was the ex – president of International Toy Research Association and founder person of ‘Toys for Tomorrow’.

Rita Kapur, who is the founder of Ananda Delhi Textile, an organization devoted to the marriage of organic cotton farming and hand spinning in the production of khadi, the Indian textile championed by Gandhi. She is also the author of the book, Saris: Tradition and Beyond)

Ved Prakash, who is a leading member of the Delhi Jal Board Sewerage Department Workers Union and has been working with his union for justice and accountability for high number of deaths among sewerage workers.

Raghuraj, who is an organizer in Wazirpur Industrial area where workers have been involved in a struggle to ensure basic entitlements and safety at workplace in the wake of several accidents and deaths of workers in the Hot Iron Rod Mills.

Hazards Centre, a unit of Sanchal Foundation, is a resource group working in Delhi on various issues related to the community and workers’ groups. We are a response-based group, working on issues related to environmental and occupational health, the Right to Work, equal availability and accessibility to services, sustainable transport, housing and governance. Occupational health and safety is a concern and concept involved with providing safe working conditions so that the health of the people engaged in that particular occupation is protected. In our 17 years of working with communities we have found that there exists a severe lack of safety at work places historically, inspite of several laws being enacted to prevent chronic illness, workers’ deaths and accidents. This has been a concern raised by many workers organizations from the coal mines to the sewerage workers in Delhi and at the same time by artisan workers who follow traditional methods of production. While several workers provide us with beautiful textiles to basic amenities like electricity, sanitation by putting their lives on risk, there is no accountability regarding their safety and the provisions made for them.

At the request of AIACA, we started working on the occupational and environmental impacts on artisans involved with the traditional handicrafts in different clusters in India. Initially 6 different cottage industry clusters across the country, starting with a base line study of these 6 crafts-   1) Handblock printing in Bagru, Rajasthan; 2) Blue pottery in Jaipur, Rajasthan; 3) Leather in Ajmer and Jaipur, Rajasthan; 4) Ikat weaving in pochampalli, Andhra Pradesh;   5) Dhokra in Orissa; and 6) Bell metal in Orissa.

Following this, a detailed study was carried out on the occupational health and safety of textile handicraft artisans, looking at the cottage industry clusters of hand block printing in Jaipur, Rajasthan and Ikat weaving in Pochampally, Andhra Pradesh. This study has been published by Hazards Centre, ‘Manual on Low Cost Technological Solutions for Health Hazards and Environmental Impacts of Textile Production’ and will be released at the event.

The second publication we would like to share with you at the book release is ‘Kaam mein suraksha aur uske kanoon’ (Safety at work and related laws). This publication emerged out of our work of doing safety audits along the Lucknow – Muzaffarpur Highway being constructed by NHAI. During the present system of contractualisation of work and transformation of the work, where 93% of the workforce is in the unorganised sector, the importance of safety in the workplace becomes even more important. Presently, we have a number of laws that talk about the conditions of the workplace and safety of the workers. We have come out with a small booklet that talks about the various provisions in different laws such as the Factories Act, 1948, the Building other construction workers’ (regulation of employment and conditions of Service) act, 1996, the Workmen’s’ compensation Act, 1923; The Manufacture, Storage and import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989, etc. This book talks about various issues such as what all facilities should be made available to workers in the workplace, the working hours, the safety regulations to be followed in factories, along with their rights, as well as the responsibilities of the employer or the factory owner. Different safety regulations to be followed in the workplace as well as the procedure, such as the safety committee and officers, have also been talked about. Who to approach in case of any problems faced by the workers along with their contact details have also been given.

We hope you will join us for the interaction which will be followed by tea and snacks.

Thank you

Regards,

Sunayana 9911550840

Vasudha 9818990916

Ruchika 9999014119

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Hazards Centre
92-H, Third floor, Pratap Market,
Munirka, New Delhi -110067
Postman Beat Code - 06
Ph: 011-26714244, 26187806