The Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) Regional Extension Unit No. 8, and the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) recently partnered with the regional office of the Department of Health in Tacloban for the conduct of the seminar on Updates on Occupational Safety and Health for its regional health units and other private hospitals in Eastern Visayas.

The activity, held at the Ambassador Hotel, Tacloban City on June 7, 2017, was participated in by 29 participants from both the public and private sector. They are composed of chief doctors coming from government rural and medical units and representatives from private medical institutions from Leyte and Samar.

The discussion on the Employees’ Compensation Program revolved around its three components—work-contingency prevention, compensation, and rehabilitation, with an emphasis on the compensability of diseases and injuries. It was also stressed that other diseases not included in the list of occupational diseases may still be compensable, provided that the employee can establish causal connection with the nature of his work and the working environment.

On the other hand, the representative from the OSHC discussed the different occupational safety and health legislation and other issuances pertaining to occupational standards.

Since the establishment of the Regional Extension Units of the ECC and the OSHC, the two agencies have been working steadfastly in harnessing occupational safety, health, and security in the region.