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T F BRUCE

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The occupational health and safety (OHS) of  persons employed in work places (with the

exception of agriculture, rail and road transport) in

Ghana are regulated by the Department of  

Factories Inspectorate.

The Inspectorate is responsible for the promotion

and enforcement of regulatory measures to give

effect to the provisions of this Factories Officesand Shops Act.

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However, there are other agencies such as the

Radiation Protective board of Ghana Atomic

Energy Commission, The Ministry of Health

and Mines Department which playcomplementary role in the promotion, but not

enforcement of O.H.S measures.

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The diversity of the agencies involved in thisprogramme underscores essentially the

multidisciplinary and inter-sectoral approach to the

promotion of O.H.S.

However, the fragmentation of such implementing

agencies detracts from the main stream focus and

direction necessary for effective prevention of 

occupation accidents and work related diseases.

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For the purpose of this presentation, theDepartment of Factories Inspectorate of the

Ministry of Employment will be considered as the

national agency responsible for the prevention of 

occupational accidents and work-related diseasebecause of it¶s recognized role by the International

Labor Organization as the focal institution.

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In relevance to these responsibilities there is the need

to emphasize the tripartite role of government, workersand employers as a basis for any effective O.H.Sprogramme at the national level.

In this regard, there is the need to recognize theimportant role of management and workers ± they areexpected to show commitment and to participateactively in O.H.S programmes.

We should recognize that they are the main actors inthe work environment and should therefore be more

familiar with the material elements of work includingworkplaces, working environment tools, materials,equipments, substances etc«

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They do the purchasing of the means of productionand work with them. It should therefore be expectedthat they can more-effectively evolve systems andorganizations to improve their safety performance.

However, they can only do this if they are properly

informed to be able to identify the hazards in thework environment, the mode of avoidance or prevention of these hazards and the need, especiallyhaving regard to the dangers involved, to avoid thesehazards.

There is the need for periodic and continuouseducation and training of our stakeholders.

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In our discussion of O.S.H management, there is the need to

throw into focus some issues which may prove obstructive toefforts at the promotion of O.H.S.

` Ghana as at now has no national policy on O.H.S. A draftpolicy document prepared in 2004 has not been processed for adoption, even though article 4 of the I.H.O convention 155 ±

Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 requires thenation to give effect to the provisions of this convention.

The aim of this policy to ³prevents and injury to health arisingout of or linked with or occurring in the course of work. Itrequires each member state to formulate, implement andperiodically review a coherent national policy on occupationalhealth and safety the working environment (651)

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` The current national labor Act 651 does not include anycomprehensive provisions on occupational health and safety.

` There is no intuitional facility for training of OHS professionalsat the local levels. Training of OHS professionals has largelybeen at the mercy of donor organizations outside country.

` The introduction of export processing zones in developingcountries and the over zealous quest for foreign exchange asthe main focus of this venture may make us vulnerable tohazardous processes and substances especially where labor rights are not respected and where for fear of job insecurity,workers shy away from raising any issues about hazardousconditions.

This should be considered in light of ineffective use of our inspection systems especially the frequency of inspections byregulatory agencies.

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` Some chemicals, banned, restricted or strictly monitored in

Europe with America and some other developed countries arecommon use in this country.

` Persons with requisite technical knowledge and expertise in thedesign, fabrication and installation of safety guards anddangerous moving parts of machinery are either nit a available

or scarce.`

7. In spite of the blatant obstacles to the effective management of occupational health and safety, a progressive process of legalreform has been initiated to bring our national occupationalsafety and health laws in line with current thoughts anddevelopments in OSH, and to ensure as far as possible, Ghana¶scompliance with ratified ILO convention and to strengthen andmake more effective the enforcement powers of the factoriesinspectorate.

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The title of the bill is ³OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND

SAFETY, BILL´ INSTEAD OF THE Factories Offices andShops Act presently in operation. The amendment of thetitle is intended to reflect its possible applications topremises and other activities, and places of work whichare not necessarily factories, offices and shops.

Seeks to protect the public from risks to safety and healtharising out of activities of persons employed in factories,offices and shops and other premises and activities to whichthe provisions of the Bill may be extended.

It seeks to extend and strengthen the provisions of theFOSA to deal with additional hazards and to give greater 

powers of enforcement to factory inspectors. The bill whichwas drafted in 1995 is yet to be promulgated.

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` The title of the bill is ³OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY,

BILL´ INSTEAD OF THE Factories Offices and Shops Actpresently in operation. The amendment of the title is intended toreflect its possible applications to premises and other activities,and places of work which are not necessarily factories, officesand shops.

` Seeks to protect the public from risks to safety and healtharising out of activities of persons employed in factories, officesand shops and other premises and activities to which theprovisions of the Bill may be extended.

` It seeks to extend and strengthen the provisions of the FOSA todeal with additional hazards and to give greater powers of enforcement to factory inspectors. The bill which was drafted in1995 is yet to be promulgated.

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Two main strategies are adopted in strategically managing occupational

health and safety in Ghana.

These are:

The SAFE PLACE STRATEGY which is based on the assumption thatthe material elements of work (equipment, machinery, substances,working environment etc.) are safe and without risk of injury to healthand safety especially having regard to acceptable occupational health

and safety standards.

This requires direct practical action to be taken to eliminate or control thehazards at source.

However, there are limitations to this strategy due to the dynamic nature

of the condition of the elements of work. (machinery, equipment,substances etc) and the human interaction with these

elements.

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For example, A machine with a relatively safe noise level maybecome noisy and unsafe in a matter of minutes of or days due to worn out or defective bearing.

Dust free working environment may suddenlybecome dusty due to defective dust filter in aventilation system.

 A fixed guard may be removed and not fixed backin position.

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Where the safety of the elements of work cannot be assured, thenormal action is to protect the persons employed from excessive

exposure to the risk by the provision of Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE).

The intention is to make the person safe by isolating him from thehazard... This is used as a temporary measure because of theincompetence of protection.

The problems associated with PPE are:` Maintenance of Equipment

` Poor fitting due to anthropometric characteristics, which may bedifferent from the country of origin of PPE. (This may be a source of leakage of contamination)

` Keeping in place PPE ± while exposed to hazards in workingenvironment (climatic conditions discomfort).

` Proper selection of PPE - usually from the open market ± withoutany technical data regarding nominal protection factor andthreshold limit values.

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