Montano: Cabinet moving on OSHA

Minister of Labour and Small and Micro-Enterprise, Danny Montano, yesterday discussed the act when he delivered the feature address at a tripartite workshop on the Development of a Strategic Approach to Occupational Safety and Health.

The three-day workshop taking place at the Cascadia Hotel, St Anns, is under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Montano said the amendments were sent to Cabinet on Monday, but he stressed that it would take several weeks for Cabinet to adjudicate on them.

"I can’t say what changes would be made, but I dare say changes will be made," he added.

Montano spoke about provision of a framework for discipline and sought to determine how an employer can be punished if a worker is killed or injured on the job.

He said it would be difficult to punish an employer in a Magistrates’ Court by bringing a criminal charge against him. He also said one of the things being considered is the creation of a division of the Industrial Court to deal exclusively with occupational safety and health issues.

"And therefore we feel that we would have the mechanism to discipline any body. This is the plan, but I guess I am speaking a little out of turn, because Cabinet has not yet adjudicated. But I have spoken to some of my senior colleagues, and they are in agreement."

Montano said the changes would make the system work much better than is presently designed to do.

Montano said, "There are some things that we are wrestling with, and one of them is the costs faced by business before implementation of the OSHA. Another issue is the question of work stoppages."

"It is already a common-law right that a worker should be entitled not to work if his life is threatened," he observed, and he also wondered if there should be legislation against frivolous work stoppages. He suggested that the participants in the workshop discuss the issues and come up with positive answers.

Montano also debated whether employers have the right to test for substance abuse.

Participants in the workshop come from five Caribbean countries — Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The workshop aims to promote occupational safety and health through the development of strategic national OSHA programmes.

The workshop continues today.