In an effort to touch base with employers and hear their views on new legislation, the Ministry of Labour has embarked on a series of site visits, with the most recent taking place at Port Ferdinand, St. Peter this morning.

In addition to discussing pertinent points of the Safety and Health at Work and the Employment Rights Acts, Minister of Labour, Senator Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo, Chief Labour Officer (Ag.), Victor Felix and others from the Labour Department were offered a guided tour of the marina development, a project led by the Jada Group.

Stressing that the visit was not an inspection, Senator Byer Suckoo said that she was satisfied with the measures being taken to ensure safety and health at work on site and acknowledged that safety in such workplaces went beyond the use of personal protective equipment, such as hard hats.

Pictured are some of the completed residences at Port Ferdinand, St. Peter.?? (C.Pitt/BGIS)

???We also did have a discussion about safety policy, about how they are able to use the legislation to give some weight to what they???ve been doing for a long time…The reason we did the law is so that it is not just best practice or moral suasion???The legislation has given the company the clout to enforce what is already in their policy,??? the Labour Minister said, noting that the entity had observed safety and health and work council practices for over a decade.

The Port Ferdinand project, which is currently under construction and slated for completion in 2016, began two years ago and employs an estimated 500 people.

nekaelia.hutchinson@barbados.gov.bb

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