An Overview of the Occupational Safety and Health Systems of Nigeria, UK, USA, Australia and China: Nigeria Being the Reference Case Study (original) (raw)
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Occupational Safety and Health: An overview
2016 IEEE 11th International Symposium on Applied Computational Intelligence and Informatics (SACI), 2016
This paper reviews the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) frameworks of Nigeria, UK, USA, Australia and China considering Nigeria as a representative developing country. The study looks at each of the five OSH regulatory and enforcement models against a range of performance themes with a view to uncovering strategic lessons for Nigeria and other developing nations. The study identifies some of the potential drivers behind the developments of the different OSH management frameworks. These drivers include robustness of the OSH laws, efficiency of the judicial system, degree of independence of the OSH enforcement agency, adequacy of financial budgets, good workforce-inspector ratio, accident history and activities of the civil/human right groups. Even though Nigeria is used as a reference case study, the observations and conclusions drawn are generic and applicable to typical developing countries. The paper may also be found beneficial by researchers looking to have a high level view of the OSH management frameworks of Nigeria, UK, USA, Australia and China. Although Nigeria is working to implement a new and more comprehensive OSH law, i.e. the Labour, Safety, Health and Welfare (LSHW) Bill (2012), this paper does not assess Nigeria's current OSH standing against the provisions of LSHW Bill which is yet to be rolled out. (The second part of this bipartite series will address some of the key structural and potential implementation issues surrounding LSHW Bill).
An Exploration of Health and Safety Management Issues in Nigeria’s Effort to Industrialize
European Scientific Journal, 2013
All organizations have a duty of care to ensure that employees and other persons who may be affected by the company's undertakings remain safe at all times. This paper examines the background of occupational health and safety (OHS) practices in Nigeria, and highlights the importance of mitigating the OHS challenges identified from the moral, legal, financial and other dimensions. In the Nigerian context, the need to reinforce health and safety management (HSM) issues is exemplified from the unsavory recurrent reports of plane crashes in the aviation industry, high rates of motor vehicle accidents, numerous cases of death due to poisoning in the solid mineral sector, frequent accounts of disasters in the petroleum sector arising from oil spills, pipeline vandalism as well as accidents involving petroleum tankers. More effective and efficient management of these issues is a sine qua non to the industrialization efforts of an economy. Against the background of extant HS legislation in Nigeria, some reasons for the frequent violations of OHS standards and norms by the operators were identified as bribery and corruption in the system, the 'Nigerian Factor', inadequate funding of monitoring institutions, low level of education of employees as well as problems of persistent unemployment in the country. While recommending ways to mitigate the OHS flaws in Nigerian institutions, the relative duties and responsibilities of stakeholders in the OHS business were identified. The paper concludes by noting the importance of a virile HSM environment to the overall economic development and industrialization of the nation.
Towards Ensuring Industrial Safety in Nigeria: A Legal Framework
International Journal of Innovative Legal & Political Studies, 2021
The objective of occupational, safety and health promotion are to create awareness on dangers posed by poor hygiene, unsafe work practices and workplace on the health of workers and to highlight their various roles in preventing occupational accidents, injuries and diseases. This paper captures the need for safe working environment as it examines industrial safety and identifies the legal protections over industrial safety in Nigeria. The existence of updated laws in protection of occupational safety and rights remain valuable to the enforcing of occupational safety and health standards and regulations. Prevention is effective, always better and less costly than treatment and rehabilitation. Industrial safety and health protection ensures workers health and safety are not adversely affected by their work and that work is not also affected by poor health. Sadly, the impact of occupational safety and health (OSH) enforcement of legal provisions result in low benefits as key stakeholders pay less attention to OSH regulations; thus, rendering the OSH legal regime in Nigeria dysfunctional and at the same time impeding OSH development. For optimum OSH in Nigeria, maximum enforcement and compliance with the regulations must be paramount.
An exploration of health and safety management issues in Nigeria’s efforts to industrialize
2013
All organizations have a duty of care to ensure that employees and other persons who may be affected by the company’s undertakings remain safe at all times. This paper examines the background of occupational health and safety (OHS) practices in Nigeria, and highlights the importance of mitigating the OHS challenges identified from the moral, legal, financial and other dimensions. In the Nigerian context, the need to reinforce health and safety management (HSM) issues is exemplified from the unsavory recurrent reports of plane crashes in the aviation industry, high rates of motor vehicle accidents, numerous cases of death due to poisoning in the solid mineral sector, frequent accounts of disasters in the petroleum sector arising from oil spills, pipeline vandalism as well as accidents involving petroleum tankers. More effective and efficient management of these issues is a sine qua non to the industrialization efforts of an economy. Against the background of extant HS legislation in ...
Safety and Health at Work, 2015
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a broad field of professional practice, which involves specialists from different disciplines including but not limited to engineers, occupational health physicians, physical and biological scientists, economists, and statisticians. The preventive systems required to ensure workers are protected from injuries and illnesses dwell heavily on engineers; however, the extent to which the engineer can go regarding planning and implementing preventive measures is dependent on specific legal requirements, leadership commitment from the company, organization, and nation. The objective of this paper is to identify the areas of opportunities for improvements in OHS management in Ghana with regard to the nation's legal requirements, commitment of the Ghana government, and Ghanaian leadership as well as appropriate structuring of Ghanaian institutions responsible for monitoring and managing OHS in Ghana. This paper identified Ghana's fragmented legal requirements concerning OHS, which are under different jurisdictions with unclear responsibilities and accountabilities. The paper also highlights the training needs of Ghanaian academic institutions regarding OHS. Among other recommendations made including structuring of Ghanaian institutions to manage OHS in line with the ILO-OSH 2001, this paper aligns the recommendations with the articles and elements of International Labour Organization convention number 155 and OHSAS 18001 elements.
The amelioration of the deplorable state of occupational safety and health (OSH) in Nigeria should flow from upstream to downstream. This short communication reports on some preliminary results of an ongoing research project in which workplace observations and interviews were conducted on 10 staff out of 48 staff of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Inspectorate Division in Nigeria, the custodian of OSH. Results show that they fail to comply with some OSH regulations that they should enforce, thus establishing the upstream decay of enforcement and compliance with OSH regulations in Nigeria
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY LAWS IN NIGERIA AND OTHER SELECTED JURISDICTIONS
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Journal of Private and Property Law, Vol 1, Issue 2, September, 2024
The purpose of this paper is to provide legal perspectives on health and safety standards vis-à-vis Nigerian laws. The paper also compares the current health and safety practices in Nigeria with other selected countries who have established legislations on health and safety measures within their jurisdictions, especially the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU). The research finds that although Nigeria and the United States of America have well-defined and established laws including the systems for the protection and the safety of the employees, however, the enforcement mechanisms of both countries do not serve as a sufficient deterrence for those who violate the laws. The significance of this study is hinged on its ability to provide valid recommendations that are relevant to occupational safety and health standards in Nigeria. This remains a necessity given the observations that occupational safety and health measures are inadequate due to a variety of structural issues such as weak enforcement mechanisms, lack of skilled manpower including ineffective penalties among others. While non-deterrent fines and standard adoption are problematic in the United States, in the EU, implementing the law has been a challenge due to issue on work-related diseases. This is further compounded by emerging risks, issues related to technologies including demographic changes. The paper concludes with suggestions and recommendations for better occupational safety and health management practices in the Nigeria and other selected jurisdictions. The paper adopts a doctrinal research methodology in the analysis.
Aim: The high incidence of workplace injuries and fatalities in Ghana raises concerns about potential disconnection between occupational safety legislations and their efficient enforcement within the Ghanaian industrial economy. This paper therefore sought to examine the extent to which legitimate occupational legislations are implemented and enforced and monitored in Ghanaian Industrial economy. Materials and Method: The study respondents were 70 comprising 50 workers (10 from each of the five departments in Pioneer Food Cannery), 3 Top management members, 5 Departmental heads, 5 Supervisors from the Safety department, 5 members of the Plant Safety Team and 2 officials from the Department of Factories Inspectorate in the Tema Industrial Area selected by simple random and purposive sampling methods. In-depth Interviews, key informant interviews and direct field observations were used to collect primary data in 2014/2015 and thematically analysed n 2015. Results: Though management had put in place some policies, mechanisms and regulations including the provision of personal protective equipment, the institution of safety committees, the supervision and enforcement of the mechanisms and policies in place was ineffective and inefficient as the safety department had only five supervisors.. Also the Department of Factories Inspectorate is woefully resourced in terms of personnel and logistics leading to poor inspection and enforcement of safety regulations. Conclusions: The paper posits that, there is a disconnection between occupational health and safety laws and their enforcement at the industrial level and calls for proper resourcing of the agencies responsible with enforcement.
International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health
Introduction: This paper examines the recognition of occupational health and safety (OHS) as a fundamental human right and its implications for Nigerian workers. It highlights the need for employers and governments to prioritize workers’ safety and reviews the challenges faced by Nigerian employers in providing a safe working environment. Methods: A critical review of existing literature and secondary sources of information was conducted to explore the meaning of fundamental human rights as they pertain to OHS. The paper investigated the need for recognizing OHS as a fundamental right and the role of governments and employers in fulfilling this right. Results: The recognition of OHS as a fundamental human right is crucial in protecting workers’ lives and promoting decent work, leading to economic and social benefits. Employers, governments, and international organizations must respect, protect, and fulfill this right for all workers. The adoption of OHS as a fundamental right would ...
Prioritizing the Need for a Harmonized Occupational Safety and Health Legal Regime for Africa
The existence of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in any country is crucial. In Africa, hundreds of thousands of lives are lost annually to apathetic dispositions of persons involved in the business of keeping the work environment safe. The role of legislation in addressing issues of frequent, yet avoidable, mishaps at work requires genuine commitment on the part of government. The International Labour Organization (ILO) details existing OSH laws in African countries. It also provides information as to the ratification statuses of Member Countries. The steps taken by governments do not appear adequate to protect vulnerable workers. The proposal here is for African governments to adopt a model of a unified body, specifically dedicated to respond to OSH needs in the workplace within the African Continent. The model shall imitate the workings of a body like the ILO or alternatively, position the African Union Commission to take on the responsibility.