Occupational Health and Safety
Requesting country | Providing country |
---|---|
Bahamas | United States |
The Bahamas adopted its Health and Safety Law at Work Act in 2002 and, since then, has been identifying and pursuing actions for its enforcement. Through this cooperation, five high-level officials from the Ministry of Labor of The Bahamas received direct assistance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). During a one-week work program they met with various areas of the OSHA and explored practices used in the areas of inspection, fines, prevention, evaluation and follow-up, etc; in addition they visited a construction project and spoke by videoconference with teachers from the OSHA training center in Chicago, which highlighted the importance of having such a facility. At the end of the visit the officials said their expectations had been exceeded and that OSHA’s experiences would be used to propose new developments in The Bahamas; in particular, they noted their interest in reproducing the Voluntary Protection Programs, which promote the direct involvement of employers, workers, and trade unions in improving health and safety conditions in the workplace.