The Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) has initiated a national advocacy campaign for labour transformation.
It has, therefore, submitted a memorandum to the Ministry for Labour, Jobs and Employment, the committee reviewing the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), and other relevant stakeholders.
Briefing journalists on the memorandum, the Executive Director of CDA Consult, Francis Ameyibor, explained that the initiative sought to shift the country's labour framework from one focused primarily on wages to a system that placed greater emphasis on occupational health, prevention and workers' long-term welfare.
Proposal
He said the memorandum proposed the establishment of an Occupational Health and Safety Authority responsible for implementing Routine Health Assessment and Occupational Health Surveillance (RHAOHS), maintaining a National Occupational Health Registry and administering an Occupational Health Fund.
"Decent work is not just about salary. Decent work means you enter healthy, you work healthy, you exit healthy, and you retire healthy.
“If your work makes you sick, your employer must be responsible – not just today, but years after you retire," Mr Ameyibor stressed.
Four stages
He explained that the proposed RHAOHS system would introduce a mandatory four-stage medical examination process covering workers before employment, throughout their service, immediately before leaving employment and for up to 10 years after exit.
The proposed examinations comprise pre-entry, continuous annual, pre-exit and 10-year post-exit medical assessments, supported by an Occupational Health Fund to ensure the system is financially sustainable.
Under the proposal, pre-entry medical examinations would be standardised, regulated and non-discriminatory.
Their purpose, Mr Ameyibor explained, should not be to exclude prospective employees with manageable health conditions but to establish a baseline medical record for both the employer and employee.
The records would serve as a reference point for monitoring changes in a worker's health and identifying possible deterioration linked to occupational exposure.
The continuous annual assessments would track employees' health throughout their period of service, while pre-exit examinations would establish their medical condition when they leave employment through retirement, resignation, termination or the expiration of a contract.
“CDA Consult proposes that the pre-exit examination should be conducted no more than one month before an employee's departure.
