Occupational Safety and Health

A Caricom Perspective
CERSSO
San Salvador, El Salvador
April 29, 2004
 Occupational Safety and Health
• History
• National Perspectives
 Antigua and Barbuda and the OECS
 Dominica
 Grenada
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Suriname
• Caricom Model
• Differences in National Perspectives
• Constraints
 History
• Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada,
the other OECS Countries and Trinidad and
Tobago - British Model (emphasis on
Factories)
• Suriname - Dutch Model (emphasis on
factories and injuries)
• 1947-1950 - Development and Enactment of
OSH legislation
Deficiences in British & Dutch
Models
 Health & Safety Management System
 Health & safety Policy
 Safety and Health and Environment Committees
 Confined Space Entry Procedures
 Hazard Communication Standards
 Medical Monitoring & Surveillance
 Process Safety Management
 Workers Training
 Lock-out Procedure
 Construction Regulations
 National Perspectives
• Antigua & Barbuda- Revised legislation Enacted in 1975
• Dominica - Revised legislation Enacted in 1990
• Grenada – Factories Act, Revised in 1990, Employment Act
No.14, Revised in 1999, Labour Relations Act No. 15, Revised
in 1999
• Trinidad and Tobago - In 2004, Revised legislation is in
preparation for enactment
• Suriname - After Independence (1975) - New Regulation -
(a) Insurance benefits for injuries (1976)
 National Perspectives
• (b) The employer has an obligation to
maintain an accident register
• Suriname contd
• After Revolution in 1980, in 1981, the
emphasis was on safety procedures within
the health framework
 Caricom Model
• In 1996, Ministers of Labour from Caricom
countries formulated the model based on
the ILO Code of Practice on recording and
notification of occupational accidents and
diseases and the best practices from the
legislations of the various caricom
countries
• An idealistic framework
Differences in National
Perspectives
• OECS countries and Suriname are
upgrading legislation to meet Caricom
model
• Trinidad and Tobago OSH Act:No1 of 2004
covers all industrial establishments except
premises for residential purposes.
However, special measures are included
for pregnant women
 Constraints
• Lack of financial resources
• Lack of trained personnel
• Absence of a consistent public education
programme (except Suriname)
• Absence of technical equipment
• Absence of national and regional databases
• Generally, lack of opportunity for tertiary
education
Recommendations Cont’d
To eliminate this situation of abuse:
 Development of a process consisting of several
strategies involving international relation
techniques and other relevant techniques with
regards to the approach to the heads of nations in
order to convince them that the greatest wealth of
any nation is the human resource and hence, the
well being of workers is significant
 This process approach must be tailored to suit the
needs of the nation and its present situations
Recommendations Cont’d
 Methods ( Public relations techniques) to
convince occupiers/employers and to cause
them (without force) to willfully comply with the
OSH legislation, although the mission of the
legislation is enforcement
 To “sell” to the occupiers/employers the fact that
proper implementation of OSH legislation will
result in great cost benefits (positive economic
indicators)
Recommendations Cont’d
 To encourage the tripartite consensus
 Mentoring aspect with regards to training and advisory in
the usage of equipment and process safety
 Governments may need to consider strategies to assist
entrepreneurs financially in the organization of adequate
working conditions for the employees
 A regional center of occupational safety and health
should be established for the ease of availability of
technical expertise for the Caricom member states