LABOUR LAWS AND Unit 4, section 6: Challenges

CHALLENGES in developing health

IN DEVELOPING HEALTHand safety inspection
AND SAFETY
UNIT 4 SECTION
INDUSTRIAL 6
RELATIONS systems INSPECTION SYSTEMS

Hello! Finally, finally, we have come to the end of an exciting expedition

into occupational health and safety issues. This last section attempts to
expose you to the challenges in developing health and safety inspections. It
is hoped that the discussions in this section will enable you to be better
prepared at dealing with any of these challenges in the course of your work.
Best wishes.

By the end of the section, you should be able to:

 state the purpose Health and Safety Inspection
 list those responsible for Health and Safety Inspection
 outline the steps in carrying out safety inspection
 explain the challenges of Health and Safety Inspection.

Now read on……………….

The Purpose of Occupational Health and Safety Inspection

Health and safety inspection systems are developed to ascertain the safety of
the workplace. The inspection identifies and exposes any faults in the
workplace health and safety system, equipment, machine and/or any other
operational mistakes that might be the source of accidents.

There are a number of reasons why such inspections are carried out. The
first for our discussion is that, Health and Safety Inspection at work is a
requirement that is clearly stipulated in Ghana’s Labour Law, Act 651.
Thus, by carrying out Health and safety inspection, one is meeting a legal
requirement.

Health and safety inspection also seeks to secure the enforcement of the
health and safety provisions outlined in Labour Act, respecting the
conditions of work and the protection of workers at their respective
workplaces.

By undertaking health and safety inspection, technical information and

advice can be given to employers as well as to employees concerning the
most effective way of ensuring safety at work.

Health and safety inspection also leads to the notification of the Labour
Department or the Labour Commission any health and safety gaps in the
Labour Act as well as any practices or abuses that were left out in the
Labour Act.

It can be seen that the purpose of health and safety inspection is to make
sure that health and safety is not taken for granted as a lip service but
actually put into practice.

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Who are responsible for health and safety inspections?

At the national level, health and safety inspectors are appointed by the
appointment authority of the Civil Service. What this means is that such
inspectors are full time inspectors and are paid for going round workplaces
to inspect the conditions of work. There is the Factories Inspectorate
Division under Ministry of Manpower and Employment whose
responsibility is to conduct such inspections.

Organizations that take health and safety requirements seriously also

appoint health and safety inspectors. These workplace inspectors may not be
full time but may be managers and / or supervisors who carry out health and
safety inspection as part of their normal job schedules or on part time basis.

They are often assisted by workplace health and safety advisors who are
also workers from the various units or departments. Nonetheless, a few
companies do have a whole unit for Health and Safety. E.g. Pioneer
Cannery Products in Tema.

Besides those designated as responsible for health and safety checks, every
worker who is responsible can also act as a health and safety inspector.
Workers who are alert to their safety needs and informs the appropriate
authority on hazards is acting as a health and safety inspector. Even though
such a worker may not receive allowance for such services.

In some advance countries, even consumers and investors act as health and
safety inspectors. It is common to find people enquiring about what safety
measures are in place in company A or the number of workplace accidents
that occur before either buying shares from the company or before even
buying the products of the company. Such consumer pressures have proven
very effective in ensuring that health and safety standards are adhered to.

Steps in Carrying out Health and Safety Inspection

For health and safety inspection to be effectively done, a number of things
must be in place. Some of the steps are as follows:
 A health and safety inspector must first be appointed – if this is not
done, it will be no body’s responsibility and so everybody will expect
the other to inspect and in the end there will be no health and safety
inspection at the workplace.
 A checklist for the inspection must be prepared – this is what will guide
the inspection. If the health and safety inspector has no guide he will be
busy inspecting nothing. The check list will indicate what the inspector
should look out for. Example of things often included in such inspection
checklist are health and safety;
− Policy content
− Procedures
− Practices

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− Equipments and clothing

− Training assessment
 Which points or units need special attention must be indicated – of
course there are bound to be varying levels of hazards and risks at the
different departments and units. There may be fewer hazards at the
reception area than at the factory production room. This is not to say,
however, that some areas or units of the organization be neglected but
directs the inspector as to which areas need more attention.
 The frequency for carrying out the checks must be defined – if this is not
done, the inspector may decide to carry out inspection only once in a
long while and when that happens, a lot of issues are very likely to
escape his notice and attention. On the other hand, when the checks are
frequent, what was not noticed at the first inspection may be noticed at
the second or fourth inspection.
 The checklist as the basis for the inspection must be used – Though
there may be a checklist in place, if its use for the inspection is not
insisted, the attention of the inspector may shift to issues that may not be
necessary, while overlooking the very important issues.
 Sample or spot checks at random must be carried out – This will check
the incidence of putting health and safety measures in place only when
the inspector is about to come for the inspection. The random checks
actually portray the true picture on the ground.
 Special investigations must be carried out as a way of dealing with
special problems – The fact that inspections are done are not enough.
There is the need for further investigations to understand why certain
trends exist or the nature of problems.
 A reporting system must develop – Here a format can be designed for
recording the results of the inspections – This is necessary to control the
way things are done.
 Find out if inspections are actually being carried out and on schedule.
 The use of inspection reports to ascertain if corrective actions are taken
must be carried out to monitor the inspection.

Challenges to Developing Health and Safety Systems

Costs
The financial implication of carrying out health and safety checks is a major
challenge. The health and safety inspector will need a means of transport for
the inspection. The inspector or inspection team will also require stationary
for reporting as well as investigation cost. In a developing country like
Ghana, availability or otherwise of funds will determine the frequency and
quality of health and safety inspection.

Power / Authority
A health and safety inspector without power and authority cannot be
effective. Whoever appoints such an inspector must as a matter of
importance, give the inspector the commensurate power to operate with.

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Without power, the inspector cannot walk into any organization and demand
to be offered the right to inspect. In Ghana, the current Labour Act spells out
the power of labour inspectors.

Corruption
Given the critical and sensitive nature of the work of the health and safety
inspector, attempts will definitely be made to bribe them or to obstruct them
from the discharge of their duties. The ability to control this tendency is a
real challenge. The inspector in a developing country will find it extremely
difficult not to succumb to bribery attempts.

Elusiveness - inability to measure effectiveness

One of the biggest challenges of health and safety inspection is the
elusiveness of the situation either deliberately by the employer or not
deliberately. For instance, the inspector may ask for a workplace health and
safety policy, which may be there in black and white but as to whether the
policy is implemented by the employer is another matter altogether. Another
example is the existence of personal protection equipments and clothing.
The fact that these things exist does not in itself mean that everything
concerning the worker’s protection has been taken care of. More often than
not, some of these equipments such as gloves, nose mask, goggles are of
cheap quality so much so that they fail to meet their purpose, which is to
protect the worker. The challenge is for inspectors to go beyond their
existence to ascertain their effectiveness.

Confidentiality
Getting health and safety inspectors to be confidential as required is also a
challenge. The tendency is for the inspector to disclose the source of any
complaint by which he is informed or intimate to the employer that an
inspection was carried out as a result of a tip off or a complaint. There are
cases where confidential commercial secrets or working processes have
been divulged and controlling this occurrence is also a challenge.

Like any other good thing, carrying out a health and safety inspection can be
challenging, first, getting responsible people for the inspection can be
challenging. Once the inspectors are appointed, a number of challenges are
often confronted. Examples include the cost of inspection, corruption, issues
of confidentiality, elusiveness of situations on the ground and issues of
power and authority of the inspection. As managers in your various
organizations, you could be seriously thinking of solutions to these
challenges even before you are confronted with them. Best wishes.

Self-Assessment Questions
1) State the purpose of Health and Safety Inspection.
2) Outline the checklist for carrying out safety inspection.
3) State one main challenge of Health and Safety Inspection.

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