Occupational Safety and Health at Work and the Working Environment:

Apr 12, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Member states of the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) annually observe World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28. This year, the theme for the reflection and advocacy is “A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work.”On 28 April 2023, the ILO will convene an international conference of expert and the tripartite representatives of Governments, Employers, and Trade Unions to discuss the implications the theme has for the world of work, as well as how to practically implement this right in the world of work.

It will also serve to present the findings of research on the implementation status of various provisions of the fundamental Conventions No. 155 on Occupational Safety and Health, and No. 187 on Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health.

Each Member State of the ILO are required to ensure a safe and healthy working environment by formulating national policies to promote and advance, at all levels, the right of workers to a safe and healthy working environment and to promote continuous improvement of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) to prevent occupational injuries, diseases and deaths, by the development, in consultation with the most representative organizations of employers and workers a national policy and national system in OSH. All Member states, even if they have not ratified the Conventions in question, have an obligation, arising from the very fact of membership in the Organization, to respect, to promote and to realize, in good faith and in accordance with the Constitution, the principles concerning the fundamental rights which are the subject of Conventions 155 and 187.

In keeping with its commitments, Guyana as a member of the ILO since 1966,enacted

the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act No 32 of 1997, which provides for the registration and regulation of industrial establishments and came into force on 15^th September 1999 by statutory order No. 15 of 1999 of the Minister. The Act applies to every industrial establishment (Section 3) and self-employed persons and persons engaged in homework (Section 5).

Registration of Industrial Establishments. The Act requires: –

• every industrial establishment and person engaged in homework to be registered with the Authority which shall keep a register of industrial establishments (Section 6);
• every industrial establishment to be registered with the specified particulars within thirty days by application to the Authority in the prescribed form renewable annually (Section 7).
• all changes in particulars must also be registered within thirty days (Section 8); and
• the Authority to correct or amend and keep up to date the register (Section 9).

Advisory Council on OSH.

The Act establishes the Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (Advisory Council), consisting of not fewer than 12 or more than 24 members appointed by the Minister for such term as the Minister determines –

• members of the Advisory Council represent management, labour, technical or professional bodies or persons with knowledge of occupational safety, welfare, and health.
• the Minister designates the chairman and vice-chairman from among the appointed members of the Advisory Council and fills vacancies that occur.

The Advisory Council makes its own rules subject to the approval of the Minister. The functions of the Advisory Council are: –

• to advise the Minister on matters relating to OSH or arising out of the operations of the Act.
• to advise the Minister on the formulation of a national policy on OSH.
• to make recommendations to the Minister relating to the programme of work of the Authority in OSH including enforcement and the implementation of a national policy on OSH.
• to promote public awareness of OSH; and
• to present an annual report of its work to the Minister by the 1^st.June each year.

The Advisory committee may establish committees to assist it in its functions under the chair of one of the members of the Advisory Council (Sections 10 and 11).

OSH Authority

• the Act establishes the OSH Authority comprising of such officers as may be designated by the Minister by notice published in the Gazette;
• where no such authority is established, the Chief OSH Officer shall be the Authority;
• all industrial establishments and all machinery shall be inspected by the Authority, or by an inspector on the directions of the Authority;
• the Minister may make regulations for the inspections of industrial establishments and machinery;
• the Minister designates the inspectors (Section 12); and
• every inspector shall be furnished with a prescribed certificate of appointment (Section 14).

Power of the Authority and of an Inspector

The Authority and every inspector have powers including:

• to enter, inspect and examine industrial establishments or places believed to be industrial establishments at any hour by day or night;
• to enter, inspect and examine any place that is believed to be storage of explosives or highly flammable materials;
• to enter ships or vessels in any dock or harbour, any wharf, quay or stelling and make such inspection and examination as he/she may deem fit;
• to require the production, of registers, certificates, and to inspect, examine and copy any of them, or remove them to make copies or extracts;
• to make such examination, inquiry, or test necessary on any aspect of the establishment, equipment, machine, device, article, material, chemical, physical agent or biological agent, and require any test to be conducted or taken by qualified persons at the expense of the employer;
• to be assisted by persons with special expertise or professional knowledge;
• to require information, and to interview relevant persons alone or in the presence of others and to require such persons providing or from whom information has been obtained to sign a declaration of truth, provided that no person shall be required under this paragraph to answer any question, or to give any incriminating evidence (Section 13);
• to require a certificate of fitness of any young person (Section 17).

Medical Inspector – Appointment, Powers, and Duties

In keeping with this Act:-

• the Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, designate a sufficient number of registered medical practitioners to be medical inspectors for any of the purposes of this Act;
• where there is no medical inspector for an establishment, the Government medical officer for the relevant district shall be the medical inspector;
• the medical inspector has powers to inspect the general register and to investigate and report on any case of death, injury or any case of occupational disease.
• the medical inspector under this section has all the powers of an inspector; and
• the Minister may direct that regulations be made regarding the functions and duties of the medical inspector (Sections 15 and 16).

Periodic Reports: Every medical inspector is required to make an annual report in the prescribed form to the Authority as to the examination made or other duties performed under this Act (Section 19).

Technical Examiners: The Minister may appoint suitably qualified technical persons to examine equipment, drawings, plans or specifications of any workplace (Section 20).

OSH Commissioner: The Minister may appoint an OSH Commissioner to carry out the duties and to exercise the power of an arbitration tribunal in relation to procedural matters as directed by the Minister in keeping with this Act (Section 21).

• Non-Governmental – Safety and Health Representatives

At construction sites with fewer than 20 and more than 5 employees, the employer is required to have workers select at least one safety and health representative from among non-managerial employees. Where there are trade unions representing workers, the selection of a safety and health representative may be delegated by a majority of the workers to the trade union(s).

The employer and workers are required to provide the safety and health representative with relevant information to enable the representative to carry out inspections of the workplace.

The safety and health representative has the power:-

• to identify sources of danger or hazard to workers and to make recommendations to the employer, the workers, and the trade union(s) representing the workers;
• to obtain pertinent information and conduct appropriate tests for the purpose of OSH;
• to be consulted, and be present at testing and ensuring that valid testing procedures are used; and
• to obtain information from the employer concerning the identification of potential hazard of materials, processes or equipment in his or other similar workplaces or other industries (Section 22).

Yours Sincerely,

Samuel J. Goolsarran

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• Advisory Council, Chief OSH Officer, Health, Samuel J. Goolsarran, World Day

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