Amid increased workplace accidents and deaths, more workers trained to tackle issues

Guyana recorded 32 workplace deaths last year and amid growing safety concerns, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton, on Tuesday said he is confident in the ministry’s ability to promote safety in workplaces and address workplace accidents.

During the launch of Occupational Safety and Health Month at the Ministry’s compound at Brickdam, Georgetown, the minister said over 1,000 members from 70 workplace safety and health committees were beneficiaries of training programmes which should help them to improve safety in their respective workplaces.

This was among several training initiatives conducted by the ministry to improve workplace safety.

The minister said focus is also placed on the staff at the ministry with capacity for the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department staffing capacity expanded with 20 additional positions.

“These officers have benefited from refresher training programmes in OSH and specialised areas such as industry, marine safety, mining, construction, agriculture and inspection techniques of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels (FPSO).

“Most of these officers are now certified as ISO 45001 inspectors, and are better equipped to provide technical support and guidance to workplace parties,” the minister said.

Furthermore, the minister said inspections were done aboard drill 10 ships and FPSOs inspected in 2024. Eight other drillships will be inspected this year.

For this period of inspections, over 4,800 workplaces were also inspected and over 30,000 employees were impacted.

The minister added that despite the ministry’s efforts to minimise these accidents, they continue to occur, and majority of them are mainly in the mining and construction sectors.

The minster also said, “All fatal and non fatal workplace accidents have been investigated and recommendations have been made to prevent future occurrences.”

Hamilton previously shared that the Ministry investigated 144 non-fatal accidents from a total of 543 reported cases in 2024.

Part of the minisry’s Occupational Safety and Health Month activities will be to continue the sensitisation programmes. Already there are Labour Officers in every ministry to do so. The Labour Ministry is committed to the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s goal of strengthening OSH systems in workplaces.