MANILA, PHILIPPINES, MARCH 2, 2021 — In its aim to encourage the industry to comply with the government’s prescribed minimum health standards, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), through its Safe Filming Program, organized the free Training for Basic Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) for Safety Officer II (SO2).

Safe Filming’s BOSH Training for Safety Officers is a 40-hour mandatory course designed to impart knowledge and skills on basic concepts and principles of occupational safety and health (OSH). 

The Safe Filming trainers were from FRReal Occupational Health and Safety (FRROHS) Consultancy Training Services, an OSH consultancy organization and OSH training organization accredited by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)

Scholars were awarded an SO2 Certification, enabling them to implement the safety and health program of their respective companies or offices. They also received selected videos for reproduction by their organization as well as soft copies of the training manual, presentations, international papers, and OSH standards

Two batches of BOSH Training sessions were held online for free. The first batch was held from November 9 to 13, 2020 while the second batch had two schedules in 2021: January 23 to 24 and January 30 to 31

A Call for Applications was issued for BOSH Training scholars from film and audiovisual companies that have been conducting production shoots under the Safe Filming Program. Eligible applicants had to be registered with the FDCP’s National Registry (NR). Non-registrants simply had to apply through the NR website. 

The Safe Filming Program vows to continue to serve as a platform for collaboration with stakeholders with regard to OSH-related concerns especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic

It maintains a global resource website containing guidelines and principles of safe filming for local and international film and audiovisual productions. It also aims to conduct more free BOSH Training sessions this year

In addition, the Safe Filming Program will be working with the DOLE for the launch of  the Safety & Health Officers Training Seminar (SHOTS) that will provide free sector-specific training on OSH for the film and audiovisual industry through a 40-hour module that complements the existing BOSH Training of the DOLE

With the sector-specific SHOTS, the FDCP aims to adequately equip professionally-accredited Safety Officers with the government’s guidelines and protocols for the safe conduct of production shoots and events for the management of risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SHOTS will also cover other accidents in the workplace as well as emergency preparedness

The Safe Filming Program is encouraging more film and audiovisual members to attend the upcoming SHOTS for free. As per the DOLE, there should be a maximum of 45 participants. 

Stay tuned for the schedule of the free Safe Filming training sessions. For questions or concerns, you may contact the Safe Filming Program through Ms. Claire Mendoza at (+63) 917 7233 111 or at [email protected]