Health and Safety
Employer Cares
In accordance with the Labour Law, an employer is responsible for maintaining the health and safety of the workers at the workplace. Employer is required to keep the workplace in a common state of cleanliness and presentation of hygiene & safety necessary for the health and safety of workers.
The establishment should be monitored to check the quality of the premises, cleanliness, hygienic arrangements for the needs of personnel, beverages and meals; lodging of the personnel (if applicable); work stations and the seating arrangements; ventilation and sanitation; individual protective instruments and work clothes; and lighting and noise levels in the workplace.
Safety of the worker must be ensured by installing and maintaining the machinery, mechanisms, transmission apparatus, tools, equipment and machines in the best possible safety conditions. Tools, equipment, machines, or products used must be organised properly, guaranteeing the safety of workers.
Safety conditions of an establishment should also be monitored regarding risks of falling, moving heavy objects, protection from dangerous machines and apparatus, preventive measures to be taken for work in confined areas or for work done in an isolated environment, risks of liquids spilling, and fire prevention.
Employer has a duty of care to ensure the safety of workers under the Civil Code. When establishing and managing the place, facilities and equipment to be used for the employee’s work, the employer is obliged to take care to protect the worker’s life and health, etc., from danger.
Sources: §229 & 230 of the Labour Law, promulgated by Royal Order No. CS/RKM/0397/01 of 13 March 1997 (amended in 2021); §666 of the Civil Code, 2007
Free Protection
Labour Law & Parkas require employers to provide protective equipment (PPE) to workers involved in hazardous work. The type of PPE needed varies depending on the nature of work being performed. The right use of PPE reduces the risk of accidents and illness, minimises future medical costs, and helps in the creation of a safer working environment. The maintenance of a safer working environment is also the responsibility of the employer under the Civil Code.
Sources: §229 of the Labour Law, promulgated by Royal Order No. CS/RKM/0397/01 of 13 March 1997 (amended in 2021); §666 of the Civil Code, 2007
Training
Employers are required to ensure that the organisation of work, the techniques used, materials, tools, machinery or products used are appropriate to ensure the safety of workers. Employers of garment and shoe factories are required to train workers and their representatives on hygiene, workplace safety and health issues relevant to the work. Such training should be provided at the start of work, on job transfer, change in the production technique or machines or when a worker re-joins after a long time off.
Sources: §230 of the Labour Law, promulgated by Royal Order No. CS/RKM/0397/01 of 13 March 1997 (amended in 2021); §5 of the Prakas No. 307 on Conditions of Occupational Hygiene and Safety in Garment and Shoe Factories (December 2007)
Labour Inspection System
Labour Law provides for a vibrant labour inspection system (part VI).
The General Department of Labour is responsible for the implementation of labour law, for improving and ensuring health, safety, security and good working conditions at the enterprises, inspecting enterprises and ensuring the labour law enforcement.
Labour inspectors are authorised to enforce the labour law, provide information and advice to employers and workers on how to comply with the provisions of the labour law, as well as to bring to the attention of the competent authority any misconduct or abuses that are not specifically covered by the existing provisions. Labour inspectors also assume other responsibilities, including dispute resolution.
The national legislation provides inspectors with the power to enter the work premises; carry out investigations on accidents or dangerous occurrences; and issue improvement or prohibition notices until the elimination of risk or its reduction to a suitable level. The Labour Medical Inspector works in collaboration with the Labour Inspectors and cooperates with them in enforcing regulations regarding the health of workers.
Several articles of the 1997 Labour Law have been amended by the Royal Order No. NS/RKM/1021/011 dated 5 October 2021. Under the amended Article 343 of the Labour Law, a labour inspector acts as a judicial officer to monitor and investigate employment at any enterprise. The formalities and the procedure are to be determined by a joint prakas to be issued by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.
Prakas No. 037/14 creates a Single Labour Inspector Team under MLVT to conduct unified inspections at enterprises nationwide. The team is multi-departmental: one officer each from the Departments of Labour Inspection, Occupational Health, Occupation & Manual Work, Labour Disputes, Child Labour, NSSF, Job-Market Information, and the Committee for Resolution of Strikes & Demonstrations.
With proper ID, inspectors may enter any enterprise at any time, day or night, without prior notice; they may also enter during the day any place they reasonably believe is under their jurisdiction. They should inform the employer of their presence unless doing so would prejudice the inspection; they may be accompanied by shop stewards. Inspectors can make observations, serve compliance notices with deadlines, draw official reports (probative until proven otherwise), order immediate measures where there is an imminent and serious danger to workers’ health or safety, and impose fines for violations.
Sources: §343-350 of the Labour Law, promulgated by Royal Order No. CS/RKM/0397/01 of 13 March 1997 (amended in 2021); Organisation and Functioning of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation, 4 October 1999 (Anukret 87/ANKR-BK); Prakas No. 037/14 On Establishment of Single Labour Inspector Team
Regulations on Health and Safety
- Labour Law, promulgated by Royal Order No. CS/RKM/0397/01 of 13 March 1997 (amended in 2018)
- Civil Code, 2007
- Organization and Functioning of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Labour, Vocational Training and Youth Rehabilitation, 4 October 1999 (Anukret 87/ANKR-BK)
