This is an act of the Parliament of Kenya to provide for the safety, health and welfare of workers and all persons lawfully present in the workplace against risks to safety and health arising out of or in connection with the activities of the person at work.
Registration of Workplaces
Construction sites, quarries, workshops, offices etc, fall in the classification of workplaces. They are required to be registered with the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services according to sections 44, 45 and 46 of the Act.
The actions of employers and employees are bound by specific provisions of this act as discussed in the following paragraphs.
Safety, Health and Welfare: Duties of the Employer
Section 6 of the Act places a duty on the employer to ensure the safety, health and welfare of all persons working in his workplace by providing and maintaining plant, system and procedure of work that are safe and without health risks; training and supervising employees on the aforementioned; providing safe means of entry and exit into the workplace; and ensuring employees participate in the application and review of the health and safety measures being implemented in the workplace.
Safety, Health and Welfare: Duries of the Workers
Workers are required by section 13 to participate in ensuring their safety and health and that of other workers, using appropriate personal protective equipment and clothing to prevent risks, comply with safety and health procedures and report accidents and injuries to their supervisors.
Provisions on Ergonomic Practices
Other notable provisions, especially on health and safety, include cleanliness in workplaces (s. 47), avoidance of overcrowding (s. 48), provision for adequate room ventilation to allow the flow of fresh air (s. 49), proper lighting (s. 50), drainage of floors (s. 51) and provision of sanitary facilities to workers (s.52).
Further, section 76 regulates ergonomics at the workplace by requiring machinery, equipment, personal protective equipment, appliances and hand tools used by workers to comply with the prescribed safety and health standards. Also, it places the duty of the employers to make sure that workstations, equipment and tasks are adapted to fit the worker and the worker’s ability including protection of the worker from mental strain.
Personal Protective Equipment and Clothing
Also, the employer is to provide the necessary personal protective equipment and clothing to workers according to section 101 and ensure adequate supervision of apprentices, trainees and inexperienced workers while they are using machines, plants and tools to avoid bodily injury (s. 98 and 99). This is also reinforced by the Industrial Training Act.
In obedience to this legislation, most contractors in construction sites in Kenya employ an in-house health and safety officer to coordinate the provision of personal protective equipment to site workers and scaffolding to ensure safety when working at heights, train labourers on matters of safety and health through toolbox meetings and briefings, and monitor their compliance including attending to any accidents and injuries reported.
Conclusion
Notably, the provisions directly touch on the safety, health, and welfare of workers, including the design of the workplace and jobs to match the abilities of the individual worker and reduce mental strain, communication aspects of accident and injury reporting, and provision of the relevant training and supervision to ensure the well-being of the worker is secured and their work performance is improved.
If you want to read the act yourself, download it from the Kenya Law Reports repository.