The government is reviewing Guyana’s occupational safety and health legislation and broader workplace safety framework to ensure it keeps pace with the country’s rapidly expanding and diversifying economy.
Minister of Labour and Manpower Planning Keoma Griffith said the existing legislation must evolve to address emerging risks associated with new industries, technologies and workplaces.
“We understand when we set out to establish our health and safety legislation a very long time ago, we didn’t contemplate the kind of diversification that we would have,” Minister Griffith said.
The review is being undertaken in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), with the ministry examining the country’s occupational safety and health legislation, programmes, policies and the overall architecture governing workplace safety.
Minister Griffith says the process is part of government’s wider effort to strengthen prevention, compliance and worker protection as Guyana’s economy continues to grow.
“Our economy is changing. And if our economy is changing, our safety architecture cannot remain static,” he stressed.
The minister said the ministry is also preparing to develop specific occupational safety and health regulations for the oil and gas sector in consultation with stakeholders in the coming months.
The reforms are being complemented by increased workplace inspections, sector-specific training and awareness activities under the ministry’s “Putting People, Putting Safety First” campaign, which has been taken to all 10 administrative regions.
Minister Griffith said the objective is to ensure that economic development and worker protection advance together, with employers, workers, supervisors and regulators all playing their part in creating safer workplaces.
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