Dear Editor,

WORLD Safety Day on April 28, 2019, provides a useful reminder for Guyana to re-examine its occupational, health and safety (OHS) needs and chart a course for building a national agenda. This agenda must set the tone for all industries, including oil companies, to maintain an effective OHS programme. In my previous article, Safety Culture in an Oil and Gas Economy-What’s at Stake? (Guyana Chronicle, March 17, 2019), I stated the value of a positive safety culture in creating a safe environment and driving productivity upwards. In this article, I will delve a little bit more into the critical OHS elements that would support the transformation of Guyana’s overall development.

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) promotion of World Safety Day in 2019 gives focus to OHS under the theme,  “Safety and Health at the heart of the Future of Work: Building on 100 years of experience.”  As such, Guyana’s observance of this milestone presents a timely opportunity for government , as well as various stakeholders in Guyana’s business and labour environment to promote safety and health as a core value across all existing settings. It’s also an opportunity to give focus to strengthening the national OHS framework to address possible risks, likely concerns and needs surrounding a rapidly emerging oil-and-gas economy and other spill-off occupations.  This means taking into account the implementation of health and safety standards that will shape this new environment into a ‘safety-first culture’.

Recognise safety risks
Recent statistical reports on Guyana state that of the 560 work-related employee incidents that occurred in 2018, a total of 22 resulted in fatalities.  In a culture of safety, every work-related injury, illness, and fatality is one too many.  Every occurrence must immediately trigger a professional investigation aimed at: 1) identifying root causes; and 2) recommending measures to eliminate or proactively control safety hazards and risks that can result in a recurrence of similar incidents. Without a proactive approach to reducing risks and implementing safety controls alongside Guyana’s anticipated industrial growth, there is a potential for OHS incidents to increase.

This reinforces the point that risk-recognition is a critical part of the OHS programme at a national and organisational level. Aside from recognising these risks, the importance of managing risk factors and building engagements for transforming human behaviours for a positive safety culture cannot be over-emphasised or taken for granted. To effectively achieve this, it will be necessary to commit to the investment of resources, and time to build and institutionalise a culture  of safety across the nation.  Proper risk management calls for a structured approach based on an understanding of the unfolding economy and its impact on safety and health.  For example, we can expect that as Guyana’s economy continues to  experience growth, there will be advances in various technological applications.

While such advances will bring welcomed efficiency and modernisation, these will also come with new forms of safety and health risks that would require the application of robust oversight measures.

Build awareness
In an emerging oil-and-gas economy, it is likely that employment numbers will substantially increase, as investors come into Guyana influencing job-creation and downstream industries. Therefore, legislation for workplace safety will need to be strengthened as necessary.   Further, the overall regulatory framework, including operational safety standards and codes of practice, must be backed by enforcement capacity .

The ILO has pushed for better workplace safety standards and rights for ensuring safe and healthy work environments.  Hence, building awareness amongst employers and employees to not only understand workplace hazards, but to perform work safely, would be a strategic action for improving safety performance.  We are reminded by ILO standards, that workplace injuries, fatalities and associated diseases are not an acceptable component of any job. These are highly preventable and therefore risks for such occurrences should be constantly assessed and addressed with a view to eliminate casual factors. In this regard, the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda should be foremost in the minds of all stakeholders.

Promote continual improvement
As we observe World Safety Day, this is an opportunity for all Guyanese to understand the importance of safety and health to their personal well-being, and of others who also stand to be directly or indirectly impacted by unsafe working conditions.  We therefore need to promote a better understanding of OHS issues, including the direct and indirect benefits to individual, stakeholders and the wider society. This should form a part of the national OHS agenda that sends a strong message that safety is of paramount importance.

Further, encouraging the integration of international best practices, including safety management system standards, would promote continual improvement and accountability in safety across business operations. The ultimate goal would be for business to embrace the safety agenda and build a sustainable OHS programme at the organisational level.

It is therefore a good opportunity for employers and government to review their capacity at both the organisational and national levels, respectively. Moreover, it would be requisite that policy makers and decision makers examine what improvements and capacity strengthening are necessary to create a vibrant and proactive local OHS profile. Areas including, but not limited to, staffing-capacity, technical competency, industrial-hygiene monitoring, and performance measurement would be essential to meeting the growing demands of industrial occupations. Specifically, this national OHS profile should be capable of transforming Guyana into a society reputed for its embrace of a culture of safety to better boost and make more effective our current development drive.

Altogether, these efforts will require that the various stakeholders get on board to continuously support and promote safety and health as a core value for all Guyanese to unite around in our pursuit of national development.

Regards
David A. Olton CSP, CPEA