Legislators during the plenary session at Parliament on July 19, 2022. PHOTO/FILE
Parliament has reworked the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, 2006 to impose strict terms that employers must install and observe to insulate workers from health and safety hazards at their duty stations.
The changes in the Occupational Safety and Health (Amendment) Bill 2023 passed on Wednesday impose strict liability on employers, requiring them to protect and insulate workers from conditions that could endanger employees’ mental and physical wellbeing.
Ms Agnes Kunihira, who chairs the House Committee on Gender that processed the Bill indicated “the [new] Bill applies to all workplaces. Even if your maid gets a problem, the laws cover them. They can approach any labour officer [to file a complaint].”
She added: “If somebody is coming to work and then gets in an accident [along the way], that person will be compensated under the workman’s compensation. Those people are provided for.”
Inside the Bill
In the strict Bill, the employer bears the duty to inform the worker of the hazards at their duty station and preventative measures erected to protect workers.
Once terminated, the same Bill requires employers to conduct a medical examination on ex-workers who could previously have worked in conditions that could have exposed or posed danger to their health during their time of service.
Employers who assign workers to operate machines or equipment they are not trained to operate will be fined Shs40 million. For instance, employers who are found subjecting interns to operate cranes or other sophisticated equipment they are not qualified to handle will be punished under this provision.
Once assented to by the President, all employers will be required to carry out a safety and health audit of the workplace at least once annually, which will be submitted to the government. While processing the incoming Bill the Parliament Gender Committee found that “current Bill does not have
a provision obligating an employer to provide occupational health services for his or her workers like counselling, body fitness activities and stress management aimed at their wellness and mental health management.”
The committee further noted that “in many workplaces, long working hours and demanding job responsibilities have become the norm. The pressure to meet targets and the fear of job insecurity creates an environment that fosters stress and anxiety in the workers which can contribute to unhealthy lifestyles and mental health challenges.”
In the same way, reviews of the existing legislation showed that “Section 10 of the OSH Act establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Board to provide expert advice to the Gender minister on matters related to the employees’ safety and health, welfare and the working environment”, the said organ has never been created, 18 years later.
Legislators found that the government has a thin workforce to enforce safety measures at work across the country.
“According to the OSH Management Information System (OSHMIS), a database developed by the Ministry of Gender, there are 21 government OSH inspectors, compared to the many registered workplaces estimated to be over 8000. According to the Ministry of Gen der, in 2024 alone, 1,572 workplaces have been registered,” Ms Kunihira said.
She added: “Therefore, the ratio of 21 officers to 8,000 workplaces is 1 to 380, which is a heavy workload on the OSH Department in the Ministry of Gender. This kind of trajectory has led to delay in service delivery and non-compliance to OSH standards by many of the employers.”
When asked about the absence of a board to enforce the Bill on workers’ safety in Uganda, the State minister of Gender in charge of employment and industrial relations, Ms Esther Anyakun said, “The [previous] law was focusing on a workplace with more than 20 workers only.”
She also committed that her ministry would ensure enabling regulations are enacted to enforce the new law.
“We commit that we shall have the regulations in place at least within one year.” Ms Anyakun promised the Deputy Attorney General, Mr Jackson Kafuzi, to have it done in four months.
But Speaker Anita Among ruled that “we will give you three months to have the regulations in place [once the Bill is assented to by the President].”
AT A GLANCE
An employer shall put in place measures for:
l Monitoring the health of workers.
l Management of workers exposed or likely to be exposed to occupational hazards.
l Prevention of the occurrence of occupational diseases and disease outbreaks. An employer shall have the duty to:
l Prepare and submit to the Commissioner for approval, a health surveillance plan for the employer’s workplace.
Inform a worker of any health hazards involved in his or her work and the health arrangements that have been put in place to protect the worker.
l Carry out a pre-assignment medical examination on a worker where the assignment exposes the worker to danger.
l Carry out a medical examination upon termination of the assignment or employment of a worker where the assignment or employment exposed the worker to danger.
l Carry out periodic medical examinations on a worker based on findings from the medical examinations of a worker or on the recommendation of the safety and health committee.
l Put occupational health services in place.
Regarding notification of occupational accidents, disease and incident:
l An employer shall keep and maintain a record of an occupational accident, occupational disease outbreak and incident
l Where an occupational accident or occupational disease outbreak occurs, the employer shall notify the Commissioner in a manner and within the time prescribed by regulations made under this Act.
