Researchers and students meet course participants of Occupational Health and Safety

By Pernille Friis

To facilitate knowledge exchange and networking, an afternoon meeting was held at Danida Fellowship Centre on 5 November 2019 for Occupational Health and Safety course participants, master students in Risk and Safety Management, and researchers.

It is the third time in 2019 a knowledge exchange and networking meeting is held at Danida Fellowship Centre for scholarship participants and researchers within a specific topic. The first meeting was about water resources in South Africa, see here, and the second on public-private partnerships, see here.

Here at the third meeting about 30 persons were gathered to share information on their research and studies, and discuss the challenges of Occupational Health and Safety in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

Professor Peter Hasle from Aalborg University introduced the research collaboration project “Health, safety and productivity in garment in Bangladesh” supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project was initiated in 2015 and is now in its final stage. To provide knowledge about sustainable co-development between Occupational Health and Safety and productivity in the readymade garment industry in Bangladesh, the project has studied the characteristics of the relationships between the Ready Made Garment buyers and suppliers.

Professor Jeremy Moon from Copenhagen Business School introduced the research collaboration project ”The Regulation of International Supply Chains (RISC)” supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project was initiated about six months ago and is investigating the regulation of international supply chains in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry in regards to Occupational Health and Safety and the wider social sustainability.

Professor Jan Vang from University of Southern Denmark presented experiences from an ongoing project concerning work environment, productivity and social dialogue in the garment industry in Myanmar supported under the Danida Marked Development Partnerships initiative, see here.

Four master students from Bangladesh doing their master in Risk and Safety Management at Aalborg University in Esbjerg presented their studies: Ms Shanta Deb Mr Md. Mizanur Rahman Jony, Mr Sikder Mohammad Tawhidul Hasan, and Mr Abdul Kaium. They will finish their master studies in January 2020 and return to Bangladesh in order to take up their jobs as factory inspectors in their home country.

Following the presentations, the use of learning and research based knowledge, as well as the challenges and opportunities within Occupational Health and Safety were discussed.

The event laid the groundwork for future knowledge exchange and collaborations among practitioners and researchers.

Find more information about Danida Fellowship Centre at here.

Find more information on development research supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Danida Research Portal.