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Int’l body helping to draft Guyana’s Occupational, Safety and Health legislation for petroleum sector
Four years later…
For this year, Guyana is expected to receive assistance from the International Labour Organization to facilitate and develop legislation for the oil and gas sector.
Ministry of Social Protection, Occupational Safety and Health Consultant, Gwen King
This legislation is being drafted with regards to the workers in the petroleum sector for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH).
Safety and health management is one of the vital constituents in the activities of the oil and gas industry, simply because most of the operational conditions.
Chemicals and end products such as hydrocarbons and other compounds associated with oil and gas production are well-known to pose serious safety and health threats to the workers.
It should be noted that this legislation is only now being drafted, even though ExxonMobil struck oil over four years ago.
One would assume that such legislation would have been implemented long prior. However, and similar to other key legislations, this was never done.
Gwen King, an OSH consultant attached to the Ministry of Social Protection, was keen to note that consultations began last year but “hiccups” hampered its progress.
“But we are hoping to get things finalised this year,” she said, confidently.
Nevertheless, the Social Protection Ministry maintains that Guyana’s human resource is paramount to moving the country forward and as such, King argues that strict measures must and will be enforced to protect workers.
Therefore, the Ministry is mulling the review and drafting of an effective Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act is the primary legislation that governs workplace hazards and applies to every industrial establishment, such as, a factory, shop or office.
The act, which is also based on a joint responsibility system or an internal responsibility system, offers workplace parties, such as, workers, employers and trade unions’ representatives to work together to identify or develop solutions to workplace hazards.
According to King, every officer within the OSH Department is trained and qualified to conduct workplace inspections and pinpoint defaulting employers.
In cases where there are deficiencies, the employers will be advised accordingly on the steps they need to take to correct the situation. If they do not comply, the department has the option of taking them to court.
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