The third segment of Part II concluded last Sunday, February 27, 2011.  That presentation ended with a look at Article 47 (1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1997.  Today, I’d like to begin with ARTICLE 47 (2), WHICH DEALS WITH THE EMPLOYER AND THE WORKER. A GROUP of employers, with the approval of the Authority, may act as an employer.

If a worker participates in a prescribed medical surveillance programme or undergoes prescribed medical examinations or tests, his or her employer shall pay
(a)    the worker’s costs for medical examinations or tests required by the medical surveillance programme or required by regulation;
(b)    the worker’s reasonable travel costs respecting the examinations or tests; and
(c)    the time the worker spends to undergo the examinations or tests, including travel time, which shall be deemed to be work time for which the worker shall be paid at his premium rate as may be proper.

The Act goes on to state the following:

47. (4):  In addition to providing information and instruction to a worker as required by Section 46. (2):

(a)    An employer shall provide to every worker, training on the safe and healthy manner of carrying out his work; and
(b)    subject to Subsection (6), to every committee member who represents workers, if any, or a safety and health representative, if any, training on this Act and the regulations that apply to the work.

47. (5):  In relation to the training that a worker, a committee member who represents workers, if any, or a safety and health representative, if any, receives under Subsection (4), his employer shall pay for the worker’s committee member’s or representative’s

(a)    costs for the training,
(b)    reasonable travel to the location where the training is provided; and
(c)    time spent to undergo the training which shall be deemed to be work time which the worker, committee member or representative shall be paid, at his or her premium rate as may be proper.
47. (6): If a trade union exists at the workplace, the employer shall involve the trade union in the provision of the training required by Subsection (4) (b).

I move now to deal with:
The Duties of Supervisors
The Act and the regulations state that a supervisor shall ensure that a worker works in the manner and with the protective devices and clothing, measures and procedures required.
Also, that a worker uses or wears the equipment, protective devices and clothing that the worker’s employer requires to be used or worn.
The above appear under Article 48 (1).  Then the Act goes on to state at 48 (2): Without limiting the duty imposed by Subsection (1), a supervisor shall:
(a)    advise a worker of the existence of any potential or actual danger to the safety or health of the worker of which the supervisor is aware;
(b)    where so prescribed, provide a worker with written instructions as to the measures and procedures to be taken  for protection of the worker; and
(c)    take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.

Now for the…
Duties of workers
The Act and the regulations state that a worker shall work in compliance with the provisions laid down.  And those are: To use or wear the equipment, protective devices and clothing the employer requires him to use or wear.
A worker should report to his or her employer or supervisor the absence of or defect in any equipment or protective device and clothing of which the worker is aware and which may be dangerous to the worker, or another worker.
Article 49 (1) (d) of the Act states that a worker shall “report to his or her employer or supervisor any contravention of this Act or the regulations or the existence of any hazard of which he or she knows.” And it goes on, at 49 (1) (e), to state that a worker shall “take care of the personal protective equipment, devices and clothing the worker’s employer provides.”
At 49 (2), the following are stated: No worker shall:
(a) Remove or make ineffective any protective device required by his or her employer, without providing an adequate temporary protective device and when the need for removing or making ineffective the protective device has ceased, the protective device shall be replaced immediately;

(b) use or operate any equipment, machine, devise or article or work in a manner that may endanger himself or any other worker; or

(c) engage in any prank, contest, feat of strength, unnecessary running or rough and boisterous conduct.
Also under this subsection in the Act, a worker is not required to participate in a prescribed medical surveillance programme unless the worker consents to do so. 

In addition, 49 (4) states: “No worker shall be required to use equipment or machinery without any protective device required by the regulations or by his or her employer being in position.”

Duties of occupiers, generally

The following are outlined in the Act:

50. (1): Except as otherwise expressly provided, it shall he the duty of every occupier of an industrial establishment to ensure that Part IV (referring to Safety and Health) and such other provisions of this Act, or such regulations as impose duties on him, are complied with.

50. (2): An occupier shall, upon the direction of the Authority, prepare, or revise a written statement of his general policy with respect to the safety and health of persons employed in the industrial establishment, specifying the organisation and arrangements for the time being in force for carrying out that policy and the provisions specified in Subsection (1), and the occupier shall submit the statement and any revision thereof to the Authority and bring them to the notice of all persons employed in the industrial establishment.

50. (3): The Authority may, having regard to the statement submitted under Subsection (2), direct the occupier to appoint at his own expense, a safety officer who shall be responsible for ensuring that the policy and the provisions specified in Subsection (1) are complied with.

Duties of occupier to protect safety and health of public
The occupier of every industrial establishment shall be under a duty to take steps to protect the safety and health of the public in the vicinity of his industrial establishment from dangers created by the operation or processes carried on therein, and shall take special care to ensure that plant and equipment used therein are of such integrity and that such adequate safety systems exist as to prevent the occurrence of hazardous emissions.

Where the Authority is of the view that the steps taken under Subsection (1) are inadequate, it may issue directions in writing to the occupier specifying the measure to be taken in an industrial establishment or in its vicinity to prevent injury to the public and the period within which those measures are to be taken.

Directions under Subsection (2) may include a requirement to:
(a) Obtain and implement advice from specialists or expert consultants;

(b) implement measures to abate nuisances arising from the operations     carried on in industrial establishments; or

(c) implement measures to prevent the occurrence of hazardous emissions.
An occupier who fails to comply with directions issued under Subsection (2) commits an offence.
*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.