A draft National Occupational Health Safety Strategic Plan 2016-2020 was recently validated at a ceremony held at the CIAM National Malaria Conference Hall in Kanifing. The event was presided over by Bolong Jobarteh, the Chief Public Health Officer at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of the said ministry. Addressing the gathering, Bolong Jobarteh described occupational health as the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations, and controlling risks . He recalled that Gambia's Occupational Health and Safety unit was established in 1996, through the support of World Health Organisation. The mandates of the unit, he said, includes, to advise all employees on health and safety matters, coordinate inter-departmental health and safety activities, collecting and analyse health and safety statistics with the sole aim to minimising all work related risks, injuries and accidents. Amie Dibba, a facilitator at the forum disclosed that the purpose of drafting the strategic plan is to help guide occupational health safety in the country, noting that the mission of the Ministry of Health is to promote good health for all the citizens in the country. She urged stakeholders to come up with key inputs that would add value to the document. Mariatou Dumbuya, Programme Manager at the Occupational Health and Safety Unit at the Ministry of Health, said the objective of the validation is to reduce high risk at workplaces. Momodou Cham, a consultant, revealed that 2.34 million people die each year from work related accidents or diseases while 317 million suffer from injuries.