Occupational Safety Bill to be passed by Year End

The Occupational Safety and Health Bill is expected to be passed in the Houses of Parliament by December, 2012.

This was disclosed by Minister of Labour and Social Security Hon. Derrick Kellier during a tour of the Bernard Lodge Estate in Spanish Town on March 8.

The Act covers a broader range of considerations than the present Factories Act to protect workers on the job and define working conditions. It also establishes a joint health and safety council that monitors the safety and well-being of workers.

“This is one of my main concerns as it relates to factories and places of work. I want to ensure that the work place is made safe and healthy for workers,” Mr. Kellier said.

He added that everything has to be done by the management to ensure that the principles of a safe workplace and the principles of  descent work can be adhered to as mandated by the International Labour Organisation.

“There are certain required standards and once they adhere to it, it leads to better efficiency as well so it is a win, win on both sides once we get all these things together,” Mr. Kellier stated.

In the meantime, the Mr. Kellier commented that while Pan Caribbean Sugar Company Limited undertake the re tooling the Bernard Lodge Estate, emphasis should also be placed on training for workers.

“We want to ensure that while you retool you would want to create better efficiencies of skill with more modern equipment and at the same time we expect that some training will be given to the workers to bring them on board in terms of the human capacity to help in ensuring that the retooling is not just done, but on the other hand the workers are brought up to steam. It augurs well for the development of the industry and for business at the work place,” the Labour Minister said.

In his remarks, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Pan Caribbean Sugar Company Limited, Francis He commented that the company attaches great importance to the training of workers.

“We are fully aware of the importance of the workers. No workers no future. To be frank the skills of the Jamaican workers are relatively low and we need to spend more time, a more detailed programme to train them,” Mr. He said.

“If you go into Monymusk and Frome you will find that the factories are old and the workers are old and young people too little. So we have a programme to recruit young people and will implement very quickly. My Human Resource Department is working with the HEART Trust/ NTA where young people will receive training during the crop time from April to work at Frome and Monymusk,” he added.

He also noted that Pan Caribbean have committed themselves to putting up a new factory at Monymusk by 2016. The total investment contemplated by Pan Caribbean Sugar is about $1.1 billion.

By Latonya Linton, JIS Reporter