Author Reference
Lango, B. (2016). 8 Occupational Safety Compliance
Requirements for Workplaces in Kenya. Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog.
Nairobi, Kenya. June (19).
The fact that most workplaces heap
the burden of statutory compliance on the Human Resource (HR) office is one
that none can run away from. Many workplaces at the same time do not have an
office dedicated for safety, security, environmental and health issues. This
leaves the HR managers and their junior officers alike to learn of the basic
statutory requirements while on-the-job and mostly through experience. The
workplace might not be as big as mega-corporate organization with over 3
thousand employees, but there are basic safety compliance requirements that cut
across all the workplaces. The Kenyan Occupational Safety and Health Act 2007
section 9 defines a workplace as where 20 or more workers are employed. This
document therefore attempts to highlight the most basic compliance requirements
for workplaces in Kenya with the relevant legal, institutional and policy
framework that supports the compliance requirement.
1. Occupational Health and Safety Committee
Requirement
The Kenyan Occupational Safety and
Health Act 2007 section 9 requires every workplace to establish a safety and
health committee in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Minister
under the Occupational Safety and Health Committees Regulation Rules Legal
Notice No. 31 of 2004. Section 4 (2) of these rules specifies the formation of
the members of the safety and health committee at the workplace to include the
management and workers. The rules specify that where there are between 20 and
100 regular employees the safety committee will 6 members (3 from management
and 3 from workers; where there are between 100 and 1000 regular employees the
safety team will comprise 10 members (5 from management and 5 from workers);
and finally if the workplace has 1000 or more employees then the safety team
will comprise 14 members (7 from management and 7 from workers). The workplace
is also required to appoint a top management officer to be in-charge of safety
issues at the workplace (sec 4 (2)).
2. Fire Team Requirement
The Fire Risks Regulations Rules
Legal Notice No. 59 of 2007, which is a subsidiary legislation of the Kenyan
OSH Act 2007, requires in its section 20 that every workplace should have a
fire team. It further goes to specify the number of fire team members required in
every workplace as: two where the number is not more than ten; three where the
number of workers is between 11 and 25; and at least 5 where the number of
workers is more than 25.
3. First Aid Team
The Kenyan OSH Act 2007 subsidiary
legislation First Aid Rules and Regulations Legal Notice No. 160 of 1999 and
revised in 2010 in section 5 requires every workplace to have a first aid team
in place. Further it specifies the first aid team members for every workplace
as: where there are more than 10 but less than 50 employees, there shall be at least
2 persons trained in first aid; where the employees are more than 50 but less
than 100 there shall be at least 3 persons; and where there are more than 100
there shall be at least 3 persons plus one additional person for each extra 100
employees.
4. Fire Safety Audit
Kenyan OSH Act 2007 in its
subsidiary legislations requires every workplace to undertake a fire safety
audit. The fire risks regulations rules legal notice 59 of 2007 in its section
36 requires every occupier of a workplace to cause a fire safety audit of the
workplace and this must be undertaken at least once every twelve months by an
approved fire safety audit.
5. Health & Safety Audit
The Kenyan OSH 2007 section 11
requires every occupier of a workplace to cause a thorough safety and health
audit of the workplace to be carried out at least once in every period of
twelve months by a safety and health advisor. The safety and health advisor is
required to issue a report of such audit containing prescribed particulars to
the occupier on payment of a prescribed fee and a copy of this report must be
sent to the director of occupational safety and health services (DOSHS) for
follow up.
6. Employees Medical Examination
The medical examination rules legal
notice 24 of 2005 which is a subsidiary legislation of OSH Act 2007 and revised
in 2010 requires every employer to ensure that all persons employed in any
occupations listed in the Eighth schedule of the Act to undergo both
pre-employment and periodic medical examinations by a Designated Health Practitioner
as outlined in the First Schedule.
7. Fire Equipment Inspection
The Kenyan Occupational Safety and
Health Act 2007 section 81 require every workplace to have safety provisions in
case of fire and further directs in section 81 (a) that the provided safety
equipment be maintained and conspicuously displayed and free from any
obstructions so as to be readily accessible and adequate. The county government
act 2012 also requires every county to enact laws that regulates the provision
of fire safety equipment to buildings within its jurisdiction and it is in this
order that the Nairobi County government, for example, has enacted by-laws that
require every workplace to initiate external inspection of the fire equipment
every 6 months.
8. Fire Clearance Certification
The county government act 2012 gives
authorization to respective county governments to enact by-laws to regulate the
fire safety operations within the counties. The Nairobi County Government for
example has enacted the fire brigade by-law that requires every workplace within
the county to obtain fire clearance certification from the chief fire officer before commencing
any activities.
The writer is a PhD Generalist in
Service Delivery and Project Management
