8 Occupational Safety Compliance Requirements for Workplaces in Kenya

 

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

Contact: benard.lango@gmail.com