NACOSH no longer dormant- Min. Scott

– existing laws governing Occupational Safety and Health at the workplace improved

by Ayana George

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, June 4, 2019.

In an interview with the Department of Public Information (DPI), Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott, commended the work of the National Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) for its exceptional representation of workers in Guyana.

“There was a time when the representation of workers was poor, the NACOSH body was dormant when the APNU/AFC Government took office but with work, the NACOSH Body is no longer dormant. We strive to resuscitate the NACOSH Body,” Minister Scott mentioned.

The Minister highlighted that there is a new Consultant assigned to NACOSH to effectively fight for worker’s right, through sensitisation and investigations of employers, with the aim to improve the existing laws that govern Occupational Safety and Health.

“We have been able to combine the statistics and we are now moving towards moving data to inform each department on how best we can curb bad practices. For example, we can now identify in any given area, how many employers and employees there are in a specific area and the documentation of issues that affects them,” he disclosed.

Scott assured that the Department of Labour is sternly working to ensure that workers’ rights are not put aside by their employers and reiterated that Guyana’s workforce will grow significantly through the Oil and Gas sector, therefore there must be solid representation for Guyana’s human resources.

Guyana’s first National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health was crafted in 1993 and revised in 1996 in accordance with the International Labour Organisation Convention on OSH No. 155, which was ratified by Guyana in 2012, with the focus to  promote quality lives for workers, by preventing social and economic losses, work-related accidents and injury by eliminating hazards and reducing the number of accidents.

Image: Department of Public Information.

CATEGORIES
TAGS