Occupational Safety & Health (Part II) cont’d

DUTIES OF EMPLOYERS, WORKERS AND OTHER PERSONS
I turn my attention now to the duties of employers, workers and other persons.  Part V of the OSH Act first speaks to:
Duties of employer at construction site
45. (1): An employer at a construction site shall ensure that:
(a) The measures and procedures prescribed by this Act and the regulations are carried out on the construction site;
(b) he and every worker performing work on the construction site complies with this Act and the regulations; and
(c) the safety and health of workers on the construction site is protected.
45. (2):  Where so prescribed, an employer at a construction site shall, before commencing any work on a construction site, give to the Authority notice in writing of the construction work containing such information as may be prescribed.
Duties of employer generally
46. (1): An employer shall ensure that:
(a) The equipment, materials and protective devices and clothing as                     prescribed are provided;
(b) the equipment, material and protective devices and clothing provided by the employer are suitable and adequate and maintained in good condition;
(c) the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace;
(d) the equipment, materials and protective devices and clothing provided by the employer are used as prescribed;
(e) a floor, roof, wall, pillar, support or other part of a workplace is capable of supporting all loads to which it may be subjected without causing the materials therein to be stressed beyond the allowable unit stresses established under any Act; and
(f) without prejudice to the provisions of any Act that governs environmental protection and pollution control in Guyana, work in a workplace is carried out without causing a discharge of noxious, hazardous, or polluting matter into air, water, or soil so far as is reasonably practicable or except under and in accordance with any licence for the purpose granted under the authority of any Act.
46. (2):   Without limiting the strict duty imposed by Subsection (1), an employer shall:
(a) Provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the safety and health of the worker;
(b) in a medical emergency for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment, provide upon request, information in the possession of the employer including confidential-business information, to a legally qualified medical practitioner and to such other persons as may be prescribed;
(c) when appointing a supervisor, appoint a competent person;
(d) acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker of any hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of any article, device, equipment, chemical, physical agent or biological agent;
(e) afford assistance and co-operation to a committee and a safety and health representative in the carrying out by the committee and the safety and health representative of any of their functions;
(f) subject to such age as may be prescribed, only employ in or about a workplace a person over such age as the age of completion of compulsory schooling, and in any case, fourteen years;
(g) subject to such age as may be prescribed, not knowingly permit a person to be in or about a workplace who is under such age as the age of completion of compulsory schooling and in any case, fourteen years;
(h) take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker;
(i) post, in the workplace, a copy of this Act and any explanatory material prepared by the Authority outlining the rights, responsibilities and duties of workers;
(j) prepare and review at least annually, a written occupational safety and health policy in consultation with the committee or safety and health representative, if any, or a worker selected by the workers to represent them, and develop and maintain a programme to implement that policy;
(k) post at a conspicuous location in the workplace a copy of the occupational safety and health policy;
(l) provide to the committee or to a safety and health representative the results of any, a report respecting occupational safety and health that is in the employer’s possession and, if that report is in writing, a copy of the portions of the report that concern occupational safety and health;
(m) advise workers of the results of any report referred to in paragraph (l) and, if the report is in writing, make available to them on request copies of the portions of the report that concern occupational safety and health;
(n) after being notified by a female worker that she is pregnant, adapt the working conditions of such worker or ensure that she is not involved in the use of or exposure to chemicals or substances or terms or conditions of work, which are hazardous to her health and the health of the unborn child: where alternative work not involving the use or exposure or terms or conditions as aforesaid is available such work shall be assigned to such worker during pregnancy with the right of such worker to return to her previous work after the birth of her child;
(o) provide and maintain a safe, sound, healthy and secure working environment as far as is reasonably practicable;
(p) ensure that the workplace, machinery, equipment and processes under his control are safe and without risk to safety and health as far as is reasonably practicable; and
(q) ensure that, as far as is reasonably practicable, the chemicals, physical agents and biological agents  under his control are without risk to safety and health when the appropriate measures of protection are taken.
46. (3): For the purposes of Subsection (2) (c), an employer may appoint himself as a supervisor where the employer is a competent person.
46. (4): Subsection (2) (j) does not apply with respect to a workplace at which five or fewer workers are employed.

Additional duties of employers
Under the Act, employers have additional duties to those set out above.  Such additional duties include the following:
47. (1): (a) Establish an occupational health service for workers as prescribed;
(b) where an occupational health service is established as prescribed, maintain the same according to the standards prescribed;
(c) keep and maintain accurate records of the handling, storage, use and disposal of chemicals, physical agents or biological agents as prescribed;
(d) accurately keep and maintain and make available to the worker affected such records of the exposure of a worker to chemicals, physical agents or biological agents as may be prescribed;
(e) notify the Authority of the use or introduction into a workplace of such chemicals, physical agents or biological agents as may be prescribed;
(f) monitor at such time or times or at such interval or intervals the levels of chemicals, physical agents or biological agents in a workplace and keep and post accurate records thereof as prescribed;
(g) comply with any standard limiting the exposure of a worker to chemicals, physical agents or biological agents as prescribed;
(h) establish a medical surveillance programme for the benefit of workers as prescribed;
(i) provide for safety-related medical examinations and tests for workers as prescribed;
(j) where so prescribed, only permit a worker to work or be in a workplace who has undergone such medical examinations, tests or X-rays as prescribed and who is found to be physically fit to do the work in the workplace;
(k) where so prescribed, provide a worker with written instructions as to the measures and procedures to be taken for the protection of the worker;
(l) carry out such training programmes for workers, supervisors and committee-members as may be prescribed;
(m) adopt provisions to protect the privacy of workers and ensure that health surveillance is not used for discriminatory purposes or in any manner prejudicial to their interests, where a prescribed occupational health service is established under Subsection (1) (a), prescribed safety¬-related medical examinations and tests are provided under Subsection (1) (i), and only workers who have undergone prescribed medical examinations and tests are permitted to work under Subsection (1) (j); and
(n) keep, maintain, and make available to workers in the workplace, in a location that is readily accessible, a medicine chest with contents as prescribed, and shall ensure that first aid, including trained personnel, is available at the workplace.

This brings us to the end of Part II of this presentation. Part III will begin either Wednesday or next Sunday.
*The writer is the former General Secretary of the Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) and also a former President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and a former Vice President of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC). He served the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) as Research Officer 1983 – 1998.