Ministry of Labour, Youth and Manpower Development has said government will review the 1997 Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare law to improve workplace conditions.
The ministry’s occupations health and safety officer for Southern Region, Goodluck Kayange, said this in Blantyre on Friday on the sidelines of Labour Rights Organisation (Laro) seminar on the promotion of safer and healthy working environment.
He said the Act is now outdated as there have been a lot of changes in the workplace over the years.
“Since 1997 to date, there have been a number of changes in the workplace and technology has changed. We now have new complicated machinery that we never had back then. We really need to revise our Act so that it is in line with technology,” said Kayange, adding that consultations on the review of the Act will start in July.
In his remarks, Laro board chairperson Frank Adini said there is need for the Act to be reviewed to respond to the changing working environment.
“We want new laws concerning health and safety because at the moment, the environment is not that good. People are suffering from occupational diseases,” he said.
Adini said there are a number of workplace accidents which need to be addressed through the review of the Act and also enforcing companies to do risks assessments.
