Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterA NEW occupational safety and health law is likely to be introduced in the next parliamentary year, including provisions for significant increases in fines for breaches of the law. Neville Moodie, senior director for Occupational Safety & Health in the Ministry of Labour & Social Security, told The Gleaner on Tuesday that the new law will be much wider in scope than the existing Factories Act.
"Whereas, the Factories Act only addresses those places that are designated as factories, the new law will incorporate all places where persons work," he disclosed. This, he said, was particularly important to workers in agriculture, as well as those in schools, universities and utility company line workers who are not covered by the existing legislation.
The draft act has provisions for a new 'joint responsibility response system', in which the government, employers and unions would collaborate in the setting up of safety and health committees to monitor the safety of targeted workplaces, he said.
WORKPLACE ACCIDENTS
The labour ministry, in its last annual report, revealed that there were 101 reports of workplace accidents, and one death in 2003. There were 1,837 registered factories across the island in 2003, employing 41,597 people.
The labour ministry official disclosed that the fines for breaches of the law were likely to be increased significantly above those in the 1943 Factories Act.
"The fines under that act were very small starting with something like a maximum of $200 and $10 per day for continuous breaches, but these new fines will be substantially more, so much so that we hope they will act as a deterrent," said Mr. Moodie.
He declined, however, to disclose what were the new fines being proposed in the draft bill.
"In this department we tend to use persuasion as our first recourse. If that does not succeed we will use the court to force the offending companies to comply," he said.
