SOME 15 years after drafting protective regulations, Guyana yesterday took decisive steps to compel the establishment of a Joint Workplace Safety and Health Committees/Representatives to guide practices and policies.The 75-page regulation has been in draft since 2001/2002 and the Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry (CAGI) pushed yesterday for a less voluminous, worker-friendly and simplified document which its representative Samuel Goolsarran said must be “practical and relevant to our natural context.”
The Labour, Occupational Safety and Health Department of the Ministry of Social Protection in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) opened a two-day stakeholders’ symposium on the proposed regulation which the government wants promulgated soon.
“Our task will be focused on formulating regulations for the establishment of workplace safety and health through the setting up of committees and representatives, which are essential components for the effective implementation of occupational safety and health policies and practices,” Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence told participants in her keynote address at Herdmanston Lodge, Queenstown, in Georgetown.
The government, Lawrence said, wants to finalise the guidelines and to outline the role, duties and responsibilities of their committees and representatives in every workplace, be it of a public or private nature or for the self-employed.
Undergirding that “must be the understanding and commitment of all to safe occupational and health practices. It will be the responsibility of management and workers to make sure that all comply with the regulations governing health and protection, so that the company or institution can benefit from each worker’s full potential,” Lawrence told the two-day conference.
She said setting up of Safety Committees and representatives will serve to enhance the qualitative aspects of the various working environments.
“We will have consultative/advisory entities that will liaise with all our stakeholders to maximise the company’s output, while minimising the risks and hazards in the workplace,” she said, providing clues into the proposed regulations.
In highlighting the relevance of the liaison officials, Lawrence noted: “They should not be considered intrusive, but every cooperation should be given as they will be the watchdogs who will address concerns and remedy and resolve matters expeditiously.”
Meanwhile, Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) Vice-President Norris Witter and ILO’s Rainer Pritzer, Senior Specialist, Social Dialogue and Labour Administration, both underscored the need for safety to be “top priority” in Guyanese workplaces.
Witter recalled the tripartite cooperation brokered 18 years ago to facilitate the formulation and passage of the country’s historic OSH Act and predicted another collaboration which will produce an additional “indigenous” document.
He noted, however, that unlike so many pieces of legislation passed in the Parliament, the proposed new rules “must not just be on paper [but must] live up to our expectations”.
Lorene Baird, Permanent Secretary in the Social Protection Ministry, implored Guyanese employers and employees to adopt a “safety first policy” which will usher in a higher level of social protection for the working population and administrators.
The ongoing caucus is the first in a series of meetings undertaken in a bid to complete “a long-standing issue” with more technical regulations envisaged to ensure Guyana refines its OSH rules in keeping with emerging global trends,the ILO’s Pritzer said.
The regulatory blueprint which is expected to emerge out of the two-day symposium “will prove invaluable in the long term to our labour climate, particularly in the area of Occupational Safety and Health,” Minister Lawrence said.