SEVENTEEN Global Edge Guyana employees on the Joint Workplace Safety and Health Committee received certificates Tuesday morning for successfully completing a three-day Joint Workplace Safety and National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Training Programme.

The aim of the programme, a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Labour’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), is to train members of the Joint Workplace Safety and Health Committee, and prepare them to carry out their mandate in the workplace, as required by Chapter 99:06 of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.

It is also intended to equip representatives with the knowledge and skills needed to design and maintain safe work systems and techniques, thereby minimising or eliminating workplace accidents. This would then allow participants to demonstrate an understanding of their roles and responsibilities as Joint Workplace Safety Committee representatives.
Participants can now conduct workplace inspections, accident investigations, and adopt methods to control and/or eliminate hazards in their own workplaces. This includes the participants and the workplace receiving certification that would be valid for one year.

During the ceremony, Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour told the gathering that their participation played a critical role to the ministry’s efforts to promote safe and healthy workplaces, and reduce work-related hazards amid the country’s development.
“We cannot build thousands of houses, roads among others, and we are not discussing safety and health, hence your participation is important, because safety and health in Guyana is not an employer and employee problem; it is a national problem,” he explained.
With this in mind, the Minister stated that since taking office in 2020, a comprehensive and holistic approach to protecting the lives of public and private workers in the country has been implemented.

To supplement this, Minister Hamilton stated that he is now reviewing the OSH Act to ensure that the ministry can adopt tighter restrictions and punishments for individuals who do not abide by safety and health procedures.

Meanwhile, Country Manager of Global E.D.G.E Abdool Azis described the training as transformative, as he commended the OSH Department for its input.
“It demonstrates clearly the government’s commitment to ensuring it is developed and apprised of the key role they play in the dynamic and ever-changing environment known as the workplace,” Azis noted.

Also present at the ceremony were OSH Consultant Ms. Gweneth King; Senior Labour Officer Mr. Prandatt Basdeo; OSH officers Ms. Neza King and Mr. Darwin Bourne, and Country Manager of Global E.D.G.E Mr. Abdool Azis among other officials.