TRINIDAD'S (AMENDED) OSHA NEARS

UNCLAS PORT OF SPAIN 000119 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB PGOV TD SUBJECT: TRINIDAD'S (AMENDED) OSHA NEARS IMPLEMENTATION REF: A. PORT OF SPAIN 00073 ¶B. PORT OF SPAIN 00074 ¶1. The long-delayed Occupational Safety and Health Act came one step closer to implementation with passage of a package of amendments by the lower house of Parliament on January 23. The upper house is slated to debate the bill, as amended, on January 26, keeping it on track for implementation by February 17, as promised by the Prime Minister. United National Congress (UNC) Members of Parliament criticized the People's National Movement (PNM) for unnecessarily delaying implementation of the bill with insignificant amendments. ¶2. As reported in ref B, most of the amendments simply exchange one set of concerns for another. Other amendments simply reorder sections of the act. Some of the more significant revisions require all places of employment to conduct a risk assessment that will dictate how certain safety items, to include ambulances, are deployed. Other revisions shorten the length of time that inspectors have to rule on the safety of proposed plans, and others reduce the amount of time businesses have to come into compliance with regulations. Another somewhat controversial amendment, at least with many of the labor unions, reduces penalties for many violations to TT $20,000 (USD $3,200) by placing them under the general rubric of "health and safety violations." The labor unions maintain that this fine is insufficient to have a deterrent effect on corporate irresponsibility. ¶3. COMMENT: The Senate will likely pass the OSHA amendments on Thursday, finally putting this long- standing issue to rest. Next on the labor movement's agenda is passage of a new workers' compensation bill to complement the OSHA. Apparently the Ministry of Labor agreed to make the compensation bill a priority in return for union agreement on some of the OSHA amendments. During the debate on OSHA, Labor Minister Montano announced that a compensation bill was being studied in the Ministry, for passage in March. END COMMENT. AUSTIN