‘Employers’ legal obligation to protect workers’
EMPLOYERS have the legal obligation to protect the rights of their employees, says Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Parveen Kumar.
While closing the 2022 World Day for Safety and Health at Work celebrations in Lautoka, Mr Kumar emphasised on the importance of the protection of workers’ rights and safety.
“In light of the protection of workers in the workplace, the Constitution gives everyone other rights such as the right to life, the right to health, as well as to fair labour practices,” he said.
“Similarly, the employers have legal obligations to protect those rights as well to provide their workers and others who come to the workplace with a safe place of work and a safe system of work.”
He said management and workers must have an open communication and meaningful social dialogue to strengthen their Occupational
Health and Safety (OHS) system by creating a culture of prevention and resolving health and safety issues through the workplace OHS committees.
He explained the ministry, in collaboration with the National OHS Advisory Board, had already endorsed the process to ratify three International Labour Organisation conventions to ensure the safety of workers.
“These fundamental international labour standards are to align our national policies on OHS management systems and occupational health services.”
Mr Kumar added Government had put in place policies to assist in the country’s economic recovery and develop legislative reforms to facilitate resilience.
“In achieving this, the effective social dialogue has resulted in additional workplaces having their OHS policies and systems reviewed and established to address persistent and new OHS challenges at the workplace level.”