Occupational Health and Safety Act, 2010

This section defines many terms used in the Act, including employer, employee, workplace, plant, substance, supply, and several office-holders.

This section says the Act applies to all workplaces, unless the Act provides otherwise.

This section establishes the Occupational Health and Safety Institute as a body corporate.

The Board determines the seal’s device, the Secretary keeps it, and the Chairperson/Vice-Chairperson plus the Secretary (or another Board-authorised member) authenticate its affixing.

The Institute must carry out workplace health and safety functions, including prevention programs, investigations, medical examinations, laboratory services, research, statistics, awareness programmes, and related incidental functions.

This section creates the Occupational Health and Safety Board and sets out how its members, Chairperson, and Vice-Chairperson are appointed and how a member’s term, resignation, vacancy, and replacement work.

The Board must carry out the Institute’s functions, coordinate occupational health and safety activities, set and maintain workplace safety standards, advise the Minister, and do other necessary or helpful functions under the Act.

The Board must appoint a Director for the Institute, and the Director is the Institute’s chief executive officer.

The Board must appoint a Deputy Director and other necessary staff, and an employer with 10 or more persons at a workplace must establish a health and safety committee.

A health and safety committee must have equal employer and employee representation, with at least two members on each side, and its chair must be chosen as specified in the section.

A health and safety committee must carry out several workplace safety functions, and the Minister may make regulations about committees and health and safety representatives.

Employee representatives must elect a health and safety representative, and employers must display committee representatives’ names.

When deciding what is reasonably practicable for workplace health and safety, the listed factors must be considered.

Employers must take reasonably practicable steps to protect workers’ health, safety, and welfare at the workplace.

Employees at a workplace must take reasonable care for health and safety, avoid unsafe machines or processes, cooperate with others’ safety duties, and report workplace dangers immediately.

People in control of a workplace, access/exit routes, plant, or substances must take reasonable measures to keep the workplace and equipment safe.

Designers, manufacturers, suppliers, and some importers must ensure workplace-related buildings, plant, and substances are safe and give proper information and written undertakings; breaches are offences.

Architects and engineers must carry out their duties to protect the occupational health and safety of people at or near a workplace.

People who design, make, supply, or import certain articles, devices, items, or substances must comply with standards set by the Zambian Bureau of Standards or another relevant body.

A person must not interfere with or misuse anything provided under the Act for health or safety.

An employer must not dismiss, demote, change terms, or threaten an employee because of protected safety-related complaints or cooperation, and affected employees may seek court relief.

The Board may appoint suitable authorised officers for enforcing the Act, and must give them identity cards for inspections.

This section gives authorised officers warrant-based powers to inspect workplaces and related premises, search and seize relevant items, and requires them to report to the Director.

An authorised officer may order a workplace closed if a contravention is likely to cause death or bodily harm, and may instead allow work to continue with restrictions when there is no immediate danger.

An Appeals Board must determine appeals against actions of an authorised officer, and the Minister appoints its members.

An authorised officer must not disclose information learned through their duties, except when doing so is part of their duties or the complainant authorises disclosure of a complaint source.

Employers must tell the Director when they employ or plan to employ people permanently at a workplace, and occupational health and safety services must provide returns and statistics as required.

The Director may require employers or certain employees to prepare a health and safety policy, and employers must prominently display the signed policy at the workplace.

The Board may exempt someone from any requirement under this Act, and may set conditions or leave the exemption unconditional.

A person who breaks any part of the Act that has no specific penalty can be fined up to 100,000 penalty units, imprisoned for up to one year, or both, if convicted.

A person commits an offence if they interfere with workplace safety, help others commit offences under the Act, make false material statements in records, tamper with safety equipment, or wilfully or recklessly threaten health or safety at work.

If a company or unincorporated body commits an offence, its directors or managers can be liable as if they had committed it themselves, unless they prove a lack of knowledge, consent, connivance, or reasonable preventive steps.

The Institute may issue guidelines, but must publish them in a daily newspaper in Zambia before they take effect.

The Minister may make regulations by statutory instrument to carry out this Act.

The Board may set its own procedure and must follow rules for meetings, notice, quorum, voting, and invited participants.

The Board may create committees, delegate functions to them, appoint committee members, and committees may manage their own procedure subject to the Board’s directions.

The Board may set allowances payable to a member or committee member, but only with the Minister’s approval.

At Board or committee meetings, a person with a private interest in the matter, or whose spouse has such an interest, must disclose it promptly and must not join the discussion or vote unless the Board or committee اجازه otherwise.

People must not disclose protected information from their duties under the Act without written consent from the Institute, except when acting in the course of those duties.

Board members and committee members are protected from legal proceedings for acts or omissions done in good faith while carrying out, or purporting to carry out, powers, functions, or duties under the Act.

This section says what money the Institute’s funds can come from, lets the Institute accept grants or donations with the Minister’s approval, lets it borrow money for its functions with the Minister’s approval, and lets the Board invest surplus funds.

The Institute’s financial year is 12 months long and ends on 31 December each year.

The Institute must keep proper accounting books and records, have its accounts audited every year, and pay the Auditor-General’s fees.

The Institute must send a yearly activities report to the Minister within 90 days after the financial year ends, and the Minister must table it in the National Assembly within 7 days after the first sitting following receipt.

This Schedule defines “Bureau” as the Occupational Health Safety and Research Bureau.

Staff who were officers or employees of the Bureau before commencement continue as employees of the Institute, and their service counts as continuous service.

The Institute must apply in writing to register transfers covered by this section, and the registration authority must record and give effect to the transfer. No registration fees or other duties are payable for the transaction.

The Institute may take over pending Government proceedings and may start or face proceedings about rights, liabilities, or obligations that were with the Government.