ICOH Scientific Committee on Rural Health collaborated for the Professional Development Conference organized by the India Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals and Scientific Committee on Occupational Health in Construction Industry. The Conference was conducted on the digital platform in the virtual mode in association with the University of Calcutta on 28 & 29 April 2021. Scientific Committee on Occupational Health in Small scale Enterprises and Informal sector and SC Occupational Health and Development also collaborated for this conference.
The theme of the conference was “Promoting Sustainability and Social Well-being through Excellence in OSH”. The session on the conference theme was chaired by Ms. Claudina Nogueira, Vice President, ICOH. Dr. K.N. Sen, Chair of SC on Occupational Health in Construction Industry and ASSP India President and Dr. Somnath Gangopadhyay, Secretary of SC Occupational Health in Small scale Enterprises and Informal sector delivered the theme lectures. There were many special sessions and technical sessions on various interesting topics by eminent speakers which were very informative and excellent. Many members from ICOH were speakers and participants in the Conference.
Scientific Committee on Rural Health technical session was chaired by Dr. Sashikala Chandrasekar, Chair of SC Rural Health and Mr. V. Purushothaman from ASSP. Prof. Claudio Colosio, Past Chair of SC Rural Health from University of Milan, Italy delivered a lecture on “Neurobehavioral effects of pesticides: current knowledge and prospects for research”. Prof. Gert van der Laan, Past Chair of SC Rural Health and Advisor at Foundation for Learning & Developing Occupational Health, Netherlands gave a lecture on “New and Emerging Work-related Diseases in Agricultural Workers”. Dr. Stefan Mandic Rajcevic, Secretary of SC Rural Health spoke on “Pestirisk approach for pesticide risk assessment in agriculture” Ms. Marina Rovira, spoke on “From Toxicology to Sustainability on Post Pandemic Ecological Sustainability: Challenges and Role of IT”.
Safety videos produced by delegates on important safety themes for the awards were interesting and were well appreciated. Dr. Sashikala Chandrasekar was a member on the selection panel and the deserving entries were given the awards and certificates. The videos depicted the interest and knowledge of the delegates on various safety measures and also about their creative aspect.