TACLOBAN CITY - The regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has invited selected establishments in the region to submit their entries and nominations for the department’s national search for the best practitioners of work safety and health.

Felicia Dacut, Labor and Employment Officer III of the said office, told Leyte Samar Daily Express that several selected business, government, power, and academic institutions have been invited to join the search, which is dubbed as the 5th Gawad Kaligtasan at Kalusugan.

“Several academic, business, power, and government establishments in Region 8 have been invited to join the search. These included Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, Bethany Hospital, Leyte Colleges (LC), St. Pauls Business School (SPBS), St. Joseph College (SJC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative (DORELCO), CAL Energy,” Dacut stressed.

For the entries and nominations, according to Dacut, they have to be submitted directly to DOLE’s national office, for the selection of finalists and eventual winners.

“Entries and nominations will be scrutinized before finalists and winners will be announced,” she said.

Though the winners will only receive a symbolic trophy, the benefit in terms of recognition is great.

“The winners will be cited for their outstanding achievement and they will be recognized as above the rest in terms of occupational safety and health,” Dacut stressed.

The search, which is a component of the department’s Zero Accident Program (ZAP) has two categories: institutional and individual. Its main objective is to recognize individuals and establishments in terms of response to safety of workers in the workplace.

Winners in the 4th Gawad Kaligtasan at Kalusugan were Distillera Bago, Inc. (Institutional Category) and Engr. Roberto Rubina (Individual Category).