MORE than 500 members of staff at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security have been sensitised on the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill which seeks to safeguard the welfare of employees and ensure safe work environments. Senior Legal Officer Khadrea Folkes, in an interview with JIS News, said sessions were held to develop the skills, knowledge and expertise of the staff of the ministry, which will be the main administrator of the legislation.

Folkes said the staff were educated about their roles and responsibilities as not only enforcers, but also as employees of the Government. “We have started in house because the ministry will own this legislation, in terms of being able to apply it generally and ensure that its provisions are observed,” she said.

Currently, the only legislation that deals with workers’ safety on the job is the Factories Act, which Folkes said is insufficient as it applies only to workers employed at factories. A major area of focus of the recently held sessions was treating with the occupational safety and health of domestic workers, who operate in a private sphere.

Folkes said that while the place of work is considered private, there are still “rules in terms of how you can ensure compliance and monitor that sphere”. She noted that the draft legislation will ensure that “protection… can be extended to workers in the domestic household”.

The senior legal officer said that the legislation, when enacted, will not seek to punish individuals but rather promote voluntary compliance by workers and employers.

“The scales are balanced… by ensuring that the employer has a responsibility to the worker and the worker has a responsibility to himself. If there is a breach, then what a tribunal would have to look at is how the employer behaved and the worker behaved in the situation,” she said.

The Bill, which is to be presented to the legislative committee of Cabinet, also requires that each workplace should have at least one safety and health representative, and for larger establishments to have a safety and health committee.

Folkes said that sensitisation fora will take place at other government ministries, departments and agencies. Sessions will also be undertaken through the Jamaica Employers’ Federation as well as the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions.