The Ministry of Labour conducted a total of 1,381 health inspections in public and private sector workplaces nationwide in 2024.
This landmark statistic represents a 68 per cent increase over the inspection target that was set for the year. Further, in comparison to 2023, the number of health inspections conducted rose by 481.
During a press briefing at the ministry’s head office on Tuesday, the Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, emphasised these accomplishments as necessary moves to raise safety levels in Guyana’s workplaces.
“The occupational safety and health department continued to engage the public to prevent accidents and death in the workplace because one death is too many,” Minister Hamilton told media workers.
Of the workplaces visited in 2024, 673 were considered high-risk.
These frequent inspections formed part of the government’s move to address the rising cases of workplace fatalities.
Although the number of workplace fatalities increased by 45.4 per cent, the government continues to intensify its efforts to safeguard the health and safety of citizens.
Hundreds of seminars and site visits were conducted to further bolster safety procedures. As a result, non-fatal workplace accidents decreased by five per cent.
The ministry also made significant strides to train OSH officers to properly conduct inspections on offshore facilities, a relatively high-risk work environment.
A total of nine inspections were done on drill ships and floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs).
These units are heavily involved in the production of oil.
Minister Hamilton celebrated these visits as an unprecedented achievement saying, “what we had before 2020 are unsure OSH officers. Today, we can boast that we have nearly a dozen officers trained who can do inspections on the FPSOs and the drill ships. Not just OSH officers but labour officers also.”
Even though the law dictates that workplaces with 19 or more employees should have a health and safety committee, Minister Hamilton encouraged all workplaces to have a unit. (Department of Public Information)
