Everything You Need to Know About the Occupational Safety and Health Act
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The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2024, recently ratified and published in the Maldives, is a comprehensive legal framework designed to ensure the safety and well-being of employees in the workplace. It outlines the responsibilities of employers, work site managers, and employees themselves in maintaining a safe and healthy work environment.
Key Provisions for Employers
The Act places a significant emphasis on the role of employers in upholding workplace safety standards. Some of the key obligations for employers include:
General Duties: to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare of all their employees.
This includes taking measures to protect not only employees but also any other individuals who might be affected by the work carried out at the workplace.
Health and Safety Systems: to establish and maintain robust health and safety systems within the workplace.
This includes providing and maintaining safe plant and systems of work, offering necessary information, instruction, training, and supervision to employees, and formulating and implementing a comprehensive health and safety policy.
Emergency Response: develop and implement an emergency response policy in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Act.
This policy should address various potential emergencies and outline procedures to be followed in such situations.
Health and Safety Policy: for workplaces exceeding a specified number of employees, to create and maintain a formal health and safety policy.
The specifics of this policy's content and format will be determined by subordinate regulations.
Health and Safety Officer: appoint a dedicated health and safety officer if the workplaces has more than 75 employees.
The responsibilities, qualifications, and training requirements for this role will be outlined in subordinate regulations.
Rights of Employees
The Act also recognizes and protects the rights of employees concerning workplace safety. These rights include:
right to refuse work that poses a risk to their health and safety.
right to necessary machinery, equipment, and attire to perform their work safely.
right to receive training and education on workplace hazards and safety measures relevant to their tasks.
right to receive medical treatment at no cost in the event of workplace injuries.
right to claim compensation for temporary or permanent disability or loss of life resulting from workplace incidents.
Additional Considerations
The Act also addresses the duties of workplace managers, who are responsible for ensuring a safe work environment and reporting accidents to the relevant authorities. It outlines procedures for accident reporting and investigation, as well as a framework for compensating employees who suffer injuries or disabilities due to workplace accidents.
Implementation Timeline
The Occupational Safety and Health Act came into effect on April 2, 2024, and employers are required to achieve full compliance by 2 January 2025. Subordinate regulations providing more detailed guidelines and requirements are expected to be issued before 2 October 2024.
For further information and legal guidance on the Occupational Safety and Health Act, our firm is available to assist businesses with tailored advice to ensure compliance and safeguard the rights and well-being of all stakeholders.
