A Critical Appraisal of the Legal Framework for the Promotion of Workplace Safety in Nigeria

It’s a simple question: Might occupational health and safety law be the foundation to compel Canadian sports associations and leagues to change their rules to ban actions that cause concussions, such as hitting in hockey, or heading the ball in soccer? Possibly, legal experts say. But they’re quick to add that there appears to be little appetite to use safety legislation as a vehicle through which to achieve advances in sports safety. It’s possible that the rules of any sport could require revision on the grounds that occupational health and safety law applies to the field of play, says Robert Smithson, a labour and employment lawyer with Smithson Employment Law in Kelowna, British Columbia. “Generally speaking, I think the prohibitions contained in worker’s compensation legislation against exposing your workers to danger — to the risk of injury in the workplace — could well be a very substantial leaping off point for the assertion that sports leagues or sports teams that knowingly place their players in danger of injury ... either be held to account or have to change their practices.” But compelling such change would be a challenge because defenders of hockey and other sports typically fear the consequences of changing the game, says Alfred Kempf, a lawyer specializing in labour and employment law at Pushor Mitchell in Kelowna. “Hockey is sacred to all of our hearts as Canadians, more than any other sport, probably, and I think that may play a part in it. We don’t want to mess up the game. Any province that attempted to go there would probably feel a lot of pressure not to go there.” While using occupational health and safety legislation to affect change in sport is theoretically possible, “I don’t see it working in practice,” Kempf says. Each province in Canada is responsible for occupational health and safety law, which would make it difficult to achieve national, coordinated action, he adds. “I guess to extend that you’d have to look at all of the America teams, too.” Hockey is practically sacred in Canada, so using occupational health and safety legislation to change how it’s played could be a tough sell. Image courtesy of © 2012 Thinkstock One outcome of a spate of lawsuits against the National Football League (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4243) could be demand that occupational health and safety law be used to compel action, says Travis Leach, a sports and entertainment attorney at the Jennings, Strouss & Salmon law firm in Phoenix, Arizona. But it hasn’t been a focus to date, he adds. Equally problematic is that occupational health and safety legislation typically does not deal with such issues as the rules of sport and “the essence of the games themselves,” Hilary Findlay, cofounder of the Sport Law & Strategy Group in Toronto, Ontario, and an associate professor in the Department of Sports Management at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, writes in an email. “Other avenues of redress are likely more appropriate,” including union lobbying and negotiating, public pressure, and lawsuits by players aimed at sports leagues. Smithson forecasts that other forces, rather than occupational health and safety law, will soon force sports leagues and associations to move forward with changes aimed at reducing the incidence and consequences of concussions. “I think the rumblings that you’re starting to see in the US [United States], particularly against leagues like the NFL [National Football League] by former players, I don’t think that’s going to go away,” he says. “It has to happen sooner or later that the occurrence of head injuries and the long-term effects of head injuries to professional athletes cease to just be kind of an individual curiosity and they sort of coalesce into some form of a larger action.” Evidence of a link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, along with national angst over the fate of hockey superstar Sidney Crosby, has prompted calls for an end to hitting in the sport (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.112081). Meanwhile, widespread publicity about concussions has prompted a slow shuffle of Canadian youngsters out of contact hockey and compelled one critic to contend that Hockey Canada’s failure to implement stricter anticoncussion measures constitutes nothing short of “child abuse” (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4167). The growing evidence of the consequences of concussion has also led to the spate of class action lawsuits against the NFL, in which plaintiffs allege that the league has “mythologized violence” by glorifying the “brutality and ferocity of NFL football, by lauding and mythologizing the most brutal and ferocious players and collisions, and simultaneously propagating the fraudulent representation that ‘getting your bell rung,’ ‘being dinged’ and putting big hits on others is a badge of courage and does not seriously threaten one’s health” (http://nflconcussionlitigation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/NFL-Master-Complaint1.pdf). Editor’s note: Second of a two-part series. Part I: Heavy hitting: concussions and the courts (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4243).

Occupational health and safety law is one of the most important developments in recent years in Turkish Industrial Relations System. The aim of this law is to introduce measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. Up to this law, there was no separate law on occupational health and safety. Occupational health and safety is being applied due to different laws. Therefore, it was not effective and led to confusion. Occupational health and safety law was established with the effect of the EU integration process in Turkey. There is a negative picture in terms of accidents at work and occupational diseases in Turkey. Therefore, whether the success or not of this law is an important issue. Although the law entered into force June 30 in 2012, it is difficult to say that businesses life prepared for this. In this context, the effects of the law are wondering what will happen. In this respect, it is important evaluation of the law. This study will consist of three main sections. The first section consists of occupational health and safety reasons. For this reason, the accidents at work and occupational disease rates will be examined in the world, EU and Turkey. Second, the arguments will be examined in the text of the law and parliamentary proceedings. Third, the effects of the law will be considered employees and employer in the Turkish Industrial Relations. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p703

Editor’s preface Dr Michael Howard is a Lecturer in Environmental Health at King’s College London specializing in environmental health law and compliance strategies. He has undertaken a considerable amount of research into occupational health and safety, and food hygiene regulation. He is particularly interested in the approaches that regulators and enforcement agencies can use to promote an understanding and consensus with businesses that need to comply with the law. In this paper he proposes and argues that the philosophy of self‐regulation, which underpins occupational health and safety legislation in the UK, is adopted for food hygiene legislation. This notion will undoubtedly be opposed by some and alternative views on this subject are welcomed, particularly from outside the UK. AbstractThis paper suggests that there is no specific underlying philosophy for food hygiene law in the UK. It describes the philosophy of self‐regulation which underlies UK occupational health and safety law, and addresses the question of why this has not been adopted for food law. The paper also describes the recent and continuing developments in food law, some of which move towards a self‐regulatory approach. It is argued that a self‐regulatory approach would provide a more appropriate form of regulation than the command and control approach which is currently applied. A major benefit of this would be that self‐regulatory systems are likely to be more effective in controlling food safety management failures, the most common cause of food borne disease. Furthermore, this would remove the inconsistency that exists at present between the food hygiene and occupational health and safety regulatory systems. It is argued that a consistent regulatory approach would benefit duty holders and enforcement agencies. It is suggested that the main reasons for the absence of a clear philosophical basis for UK food safety law are historical.

6331 sayılı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunun 30.06.2012 tarih 28339 Sayılı Resmî Gazete'de yayımlanarak yürürlüğe girmesi ile birlikte, Türk çalışma hayatında yeni bir dönem başlamış oldu. Daha evvel 4857 sayılı İş Kanunu ve Yönetmelikler ile düzenlenen iş sağlığı ve güvenliği kavramı, dağınık yapısından kurtarılarak 6331 sayılı İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Kanunu ile mevzuat tek çatı altında toplanmıştır. Ayrıca 6331 ile mevcut kapsam da genişletilerek dışarıda tutulan kamu personelinin de dahil edilmesi ile birlikte işyerlerinde sağlık ve güvenlikler tüm çalışanlar bakımından korunması gereken bir kavram haline gelmiştir. Kapsamın genişlemesi, önleyici yaklaşımların benimsendiği 6331 ile işveren ve işveren vekillerinin de sorumluluk alanları daha da genişletilmiştir. İşveren ve işveren vekillerinin iş sağlığı ve güvenliğindeki tüm sorumlulukları risk değerlendirmesi ve iş birliği temelinden bir yaklaşımla yeniden düzenlenmiştir. Yeni yaklaşım ile işverenlerin çalışanları ile etkin koordinasyon ve iş birliğini sağlayarak, işyerinde, tazmin etmekten öte, önleme yaklaşımını benimseyen katılımlı ve bütüncül koruma sağlanması hedeflenmiştir. Çalışma kapsamında, işverenin iş sağlığı ve güvenliği mevzuatı çerçevesindeki tüm yükümlülükleri ayrıntılı şekilde incelenmiştir.

Occupational health and safety continues to be a major component of the built environment. The study investigates the effectiveness of occupational health and safety laws and regulations in the construction industry in Ghana and identifies the influencing factors. Face-to-face interviews were conducted among 49 stakeholders from four relevant groups—regulatory institutions, consultants, contractors, artisans and labourers. The findings of the study suggest that the existing occupational health and safety legal and regulatory framework is barely effective. Stakeholders were aware of the existence of some laws and regulations but mostly could not identify the specific laws and their relevant contents. Consequently, compliance is found to be irregular. The key recurring factors affecting effectiveness of occupational health and safety laws and regulations include: negligence and lack of priority for occupational health and safety, lack of training, lack of funds for occupational health and safety, lack of capacity of regulatory and supervisory institutions, and lack of occupational health and safety education within construction firms. The findings of the study are foundational in strategic interventions aimed at improving compliance with occupational health and safety laws and regulations in the construction industry of Ghana.

Introduction In recent years, the landscape of policy and legal frameworks on occupational health and safety in southern African countries has experienced important transformations. The development of occupational health and safety is strongly influenced by the maturity of the legal framework. Materials and Methods A systematic and critical appraisal of occupational health and safety policy and legal frameworks of eight southern African countries was done. The eight countries were Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A data proforma was used to collect data on the available policies and legislation on occupational health and safety, their comprehensiveness and level of harmonization, and ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions. Results Only 3 (38%) of the countries had a national occupational safety and health policy. Two (25%) of the countries had ratified ILO Conventions 155, 161, 176 and 187. All the countries had fragmented and inadequate legal frameworks related to occupational health and safety. Conclusions Southern Africa has an immature legal framework with a glaring deficit of national occupational health and safety policies. Occupational health and safety legislation in southern Africa is still at an infancy stage. The southern African region urgently requires to take radical and urgent actions to improve its occupational health and safety policy and legislative framework. The current reforms in policy and legal frameworks will significantly alter and improve the landscape of occupational health.

An analysis of the application of occupational health and safety legislation in Montenegro shows that there is a comprehensive legal framework that regulates this area, but also certain challenges in its implementation. Occupational health and safety in Montenegro are primarily regulated by the Law on Occupational Health and Safety. This law prescribes the rights, obligations and responsibilities of employers and employees in relation to ensuring safe working conditions. The Constitution of Montenegro also guarantees the right to occupational health and safety as a fundamental human right. Employers are obliged to: Adopt a risk assessment act for all workplaces, organize occupational health and safety activities, provide occupational health and safety measures, train employees for safe work, procure and issue personal protective equipment and supplies. Employees have the right to: Be informed about protective measures before starting work, refuse to work if the prescribed conditions are not provided, provide suggestions and comments on protection issues. Despite the existence of a legal framework, the implementation of occupational safety and health measures in practice is not at a satisfactory level: The situation in the field of occupational safety and health is assessed as unsatisfactory, there is a need for better harmonization of regulations, especially in the field of construction, a lack of information among state institutions on the obligations of implementing the ZZNR has been observed, only 4.8% of employers have prepared a risk assessment act, and the Risk Assessment Act covers only 18.1% of employees. To improve the implementation of ZZNR regulations, it is necessary to implement the following measures: Better harmonization of the Law on Planning and Construction of Facilities with the Law on ZZNR, informing state institutions about the obligations of implementing the ZZNR when they are in the role of investors, adapting the rulebook to modern work methods, especially in construction, strengthening inspection supervision and education of employers and employees. Although there is a solid legal framework, additional efforts are needed to raise awareness, strengthen capacities and improve the implementation of regulations in order to achieve a higher level of occupational safety and health in Montenegro. Continuous monitoring and analysis of the implementation of regulations are key to further improving the situation in this area.

Now in its fourth edition, the popular Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook has been your go-to guide to the fundamentals of occupational safety and health law for over a decade. It provides an authoritative and completely up-to-date reference that you count on for its reliable information and straightforward explanation. Each chapter is written by a highly respected attorney who is an expert in the field. Yet the book is written without legal jargon, in plain English that anyone can understand. In it, the authors provide interpretations of many facets of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, review regulations and standards governing employee protection, and offer advice for dealing with regulatory authorities. The Handbook covers all of the important legal aspects of the Occupational Safety and Health Act with clearly written explanations of such issues as the boundaries of OSHA regulations, general administrative law concepts, and OSHA's enforcement tactics. As in the previous edition, this edition begins with an overview of the OSH Act in Chapter 1 and then addresses who is covered under the OSH Act, the development of safety and health laws, and the employer’s duty to comply with occupational safety and health laws in Chapters 2 through 4. Chapter 5 provides a detailed discussion of the recording and reporting rules for work-related injuries and illness as well other recordkeeping requirements under specific safety and health standards. Chapters 6 and 7 focus on the rights of employers and employees, including employees’ right against unlawful discrimination related to protected safety activity. In Chapter 8, the authors provide a detailed discussion of the new hazard communication provisions that conform with the Globally Harmonized System. Chapter 9 covers the use of voluntary safety and health self-audits that employers may use to identify and correct safety and health hazards. Chapters 10 and 11 discuss OSHA’s primary enforcement tools — inspections and investigations and citations issued following an inspection or investigation. These chapters also contain insight on steps employers may need to take during an inspection or investigation. Chapter 12 explains the procedures for challenging a citation before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and federal court of appeals. Chapter 13 covers criminal enforcement of OSHA standards. The last chapter covers imminent domain inspections. The Occupational Safety and Health Law Handbook serves as a useful guide for practitioners in the occupational safety and health field who are responsible for addressing safety and health concerns in the workplace.

The objective of this paper is to investigate whether an aging workforce is associated with an increase in work-related non-fatal injuries and to explore the underlying reasons for this potential increase. Aged workers were defined as those who were at least 55-years-old. Work-related non-fatal injuries were assessed in aged and young workers who were registered with the workers' compensation system from 2017 to 2021 of South Korea. The mean estimated rate of work-related non-fatal injuries of aged workers (0.88/100) was about 2.5-times higher than that of younger workers (0.35/100). Most work-related non-fatal injuries in the older adults were in individuals working in the "construction sector" (36.0%), those with "elementary occupations (unskilled workers)" (45.0%), and those with employment status of "daily worker" (44.0%). "Trip & slip" (28.7%) and "falling" (19.6%) were more frequent types of work-related non-fatal injuries in aged workers relative to young workers. The category of "buildings, structures, and surfaces" was a more frequent cause of work-related non-fatal injuries in aged workers than young workers. The incidence of non-fatal work-related injuries is higher among aged workers compared to their younger counterparts. The increased occurrence of aged workers participating in precarious employment and jobs, along with the greater physical vulnerability, is likely the cause of their higher rate of work-related non-fatal injuries.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) laws are not always abreast of their times in developing countries. Thus, complying with OHS laws might be considered to be pedantic and superficial by contractors. In addition to meeting legislative requirements, evidence suggests South African contractors also self-regulate, and this further affects their health and safety performance beyond the remit of legislative guidelines. However, what do a commitment to self-regulation and the transition between self-regulation and compliance with OHS regulations entail in a typical construction company in South Africa? In this study the various levels of self-regulation and compliance to OHS legislative requirements in South Africa have been examined and how these affect the number of accidents on construction sites. The aim of this chapter is to answer the research question using a 20-item scale to develop a conceptual framework that helps to explain the relationship between contractors’ commitment to a work-safety culture, self-regulation and accident frequency rates (AFRs). From the study, it was found that there is a high level of self-regulation ranging from 65% to 97%, and an average AFR of 1.02 accidents per 100,000 hours in South Africa. It also emerged that there is a significant, negative, linear relationship between the level of contractor self-regulation and AFR. It is concluded that the more contractors self-regulate, the lower their AFR. It is recommended that public and private sector clients encourage the use of voluntary self-regulation towards strengthening contracting organisations’ ability to prevent accidents on construction sites.

Mainland China and Taiwan have both completed revisions of their occupational safety and health laws during the last few years, and both address similar occupational safety and health areas, including such supervisory and management tasks as production safety management, hazardous chemical products, education & training, and accident prevention. This article provides a brief introduction to the supervisory organizations, legal frameworks, and legal responsibilities relating to health and safety in Mainland China and Taiwan, and summarizes the focal points of these most recent revisions of occupational safety and health laws in Mainland China and Taiwan. The article finally proposes some key guidelines concerning fields connected with occupational safety and health, and these guidelines may provide countries or companies planning to enter this market—the world’s largest manufacturing market—with response methods and guidance.

Introduction In Japan, there were over 30 000 suicides per year, from 1997 to 2011. Suicides by working adults accounted for 60% of the total. The main reason was depression. The Occupational Safety and Health Law was partially revised in December 2015, and workers’ stress checks were implemented at workplaces with more than 50 workers. The stress check system is required not only for personal health support but also for group-based analysis to improve ease-of-work in the workplace environment. It imposes two roles on occupational health nursing professionals: individual support and workplace environment improvement. Methods Occupational health nurses (1) interview all high stress workers for about 30 min and extract organisational problems, (2) combine group analysis of stress checks and the results of interviews and (3) communicate the workplaces’ problems to management. In workplaces with several high stress people, OHNs advise management to hold workplace meetings in order to discuss how to create a comfortable workplace environment. These are meetings are conducted through the method of Participatory Action-Oriented Training. OHNs also educate managers in creating comfortable work environments. Results Through the efforts of OHNs, workplace communication has improved and group stress levels have been alleviated. Also, productivity has improved and the number of worker suicides is gradually decreasing. Conclusion Today, as 75% of our workers are in the service industry, a major health problem in occupational health is becoming mental health. Therefore, it is important for OHNs to grasp the stress levels of workers and assess stress factors in the workplace. It is occupational health nursing professionals that workers can honestly talk to about their feelings. Moreover, it is important to communicate the stress factors of the workplace to management, in order to improve the workplace environment. To that end, occupational health nursing professionals need to collaborate to improve service quality, so the Japan Society for Occupational Health has created a system of in-service education based on the occupational health nursing career ladder. Occupational health nursing professionals constantly develop skills that can support health, individuals, groups and organisations. Utilising stress check leads to comprehensive mental health measures, ultimately leading to a decrease in suicide. In the current Occupational Safety and Health Law, occupational health nursing professionals are positioned as hygiene managers, but since nursing has a large role in health management, including mental health, occupational health nursing jobs are clearly defined in the law.

FOCUS □ AUSTRALIA Modernising Workplace Health and Safety Laws: An Australian Perspective I -the duty on the new surrounding two by for of right extent 'PCBU's Much controversy Act trade key care officials of centred issues of of union owed entry and the the the controversy surrounding the new Actcentred on two keyissues -the extentofthe dutyofcare owed by'PCBU's and the right ofentry fortrade union officials DR. KEVIN PURSE Iswith Central Queensland University and NEVILLE MTCHIN (pictured on page 25) isthe Assistant General Secretary of the Public Service Association of South Australia. Both were extensively involved in negotiations that culminated In the passage of the South Australian Work Health and Safety Act In workplace lythe Australia, subject health as ofintense elsewhere, andsafety contestation laws efforts arefrequentto between enact workplace health andsafety lawsarefrequentlythesubjectofintense contestation between thelabourmovement andemployer interests. Thishascertainly beentheexperience inSouth Australia bothhistorically and morerecently. In thelatestepisode theLaborgovernment's Work Healthand Safety legislation, passedbythestate parliament inNovember 2012,was thesubject of extended delays, drawnoutnegotiations andpersistent , butintheendfutile, attempts byitsopponents , bothinsideand outsidetheparliament, to derail themostsubstantive setofchanges toSouth Australia's health andsafety lawsinmorethan two decades. Ironically, theimpetus forthenew legislation came not fromthe labour movement, as has almost invariably beenthecase inthepast,butas a resultof demandsby thebig end of townCorporate Australia - as partofan agendatoshift businessregulation from thestates andterritories andreposition itwithin a national framework. In turn, thisreflected thedramatic transformation of Australia'seconomic landscape over recent decades,exemplified bytherapidexpansionof nationalmarketsand the country's increasing integration intotheworldeconomy. A further stimulus toCorporate Australia's businessregulation agendawas provided bytheHigh Court inits2006decision whichupheldthevalidityof the federalLiberal-National government's highly contentious industrial relations legislation. Theeffect oftheCourt's decision was todecisivelyextendtheconstitutional reachof thefederal government. In doingso itundermined a century old interpretation of the Australian constitution whichheldthatprimary responsibility forindustrial relations and,byimplication, otherforms of business regulation suchas workplace health and safety lawsresided withthestates andterritories. It was againstthistransformed constitutional backdrop that theincoming federal Laborgovernment sought tobring aboutthe'national harmonisation ' ofworkplace health andsafety laws.This policywas badgedas an exercisein'cooperative federalism', inlinewith Corporate Australia's push fora 'seamless' national economy. Despitetheprominence ofCorporate Australia in thenationalharmonisation process,itshould notbe concludedthattherewas no benefit for workers inthisexercise. Therewas. Ofparticular significance fromthe labour movement's perspective was theneed forstronger dutyof care obligations, an enhancedrolefortradeunions, improved consultative arrangements alongwitha raft ofnewsanctions todealwithbreachesofthe law- allofwhichweresubsequently incorporated intotheharmonisation agenda. Withwall to wall Laborgovernments in place throughout the country, an intergovernmental agreement on national harmonisation was signed withthestates andterritories in2008.Following a consultation period,a Model Work Healthand Safety Actwas finalised in2010,with theexpectationitwouldbe implemented bythefederal, state andterritory governments no later thantheendof 2011. In practice, thenational harmonisation project hasnotturned outas anticipated byfederal Labor despitetheModelActhavingbeen endorsedby moststateandterritory jurisdictions as wellas the majoremployer associations and thepeakunion body,theAustralian CouncilofTradeUnions.In largepart, thishasbeendue tothere-emergence ofconservative stategovernments alongwiththe splintering ofsupport fornational harmonisation byseveralemployer groups. Nevertheless, theModelActhas been enacted, albeit with somevariations, bythefederal governmentas well as those of New SouthWales, Queensland, Tasmania, theNorthern Territory, the AustralianCapital Territory and, now, South Australia. OnlyVictoria and Western remain outsidetheharmonisation tent. KeyLegislativeChanges ThenewSouth Australia's Work Health and Safety Actisderived from theUKbasedRobens style legislation , initially adoptedin Australia during the 1970sand 1980s.Under theRobensarrangements, a general duty ofcareisimposed on employers to takeall reasonably practical stepsto ensurethat workers are provided witha healthy workenvironment and safesystems of work.In addition, provision is madefortheinvolvement ofworkers in decision-making on healthand safety issues through their electedhealth andsafety representativesand via jointhealthand safety committees. Thesearrangements aresupplemented bygovernment basedinspections that can result inemployers beingissuedwithstatutory noticesfornoncompliance orprosecuted forcriminal offences in caseswheremoreserious breaches occur. Thereare,however, a number ofdistinguishing featurescontainedin the new legislation not foundinthestandard Robensmodel. One ofthemostimportant is theprovision for a new category of dutyholder- a personconducting a businessor undertaking, or ('PCBU'). Traditionally, theprimary duty ofcareobligation in workplacehealthand safety has been predicated on the employment relationship. This approach, however, hasfailed tokeepabreast of seismicchangesin the natureof workwhich have occurred in recentdecades.The proliferationoflabourhirearrangements and increasingly complex subcontracting and outsourcing INTERNATIONAL union rights Pa9e 24Volüme 19lssue 42012 FOCUS □ AUSTRALIA arrangements means thatmanymore workers now perform their dutiesunderthedirection of bossesother thantheir immediate employer. The basic principleunderpinning the PCBU concept isthat thosewho createhealth and safetyrisks and direct theworkshouldbeartheprimary duty ofcareobligation formanaging those risks. In mostworkplaces and forthemajority of workers notmuchwillchange.However, forthe rapidlyincreasing numberof workingpeople engagedin non-standard employment arrangementsthe new legislation should afford them...

Throughout this past century, numerous high-profile workplace disasters occurred, some of which are listed in Table 13.1. These do not include some of the large energy industry disasters that caused long-term environmental damages, such as: the sinking of the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker off the coast of France in 1978, which was the largest oil spill of its kind in history; the partial-meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear energy plant in 1979; the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986; the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill of 1989 in Alaska; and the recent Fukushima I nuclear plant disaster in 2011. Thus, many workplace accidents take a great human toll, as well as an environmental toll. In terms of the human toll part of the equation, as noted by Smith and Carayon (2011), even though the rates of workplace injuries and deaths in the United States have been declining ever since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began to collect such data in 1972, the sheer numbers remain quite high, and they highlight the fact that improvements in workplace safety and illness are still needed. For example, the 2010 Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed an incidence rate of 3.5 cases per 100 workers per year for nonfatal occupational injury and illness, as well as a total of 4,547 fatal workplace injuries. Moreover, in 2007, 5,488 US workers died from workplace injuries. In that same year, an estimated 49,000 deaths were attributed to work-related diseases. In addition, it was estimated that four million workers had nonfatal work-related injury or illnesses, and about half of those required a job transfer, restricted work, or time away from their jobs. In 2004, approximately 3.4 million workers received treatment at hospital emergency departments because of a work-related injury, and about 80,000 were hospitalized (CDC/NIOSH, 2004a).

BackgroundOccupational health laws must recognise the constitutional requirement of substantive equality, and its role in ‘the progressive realisation’ of the rights provided by Section 27.ObjectivesOur main aim is to review current South African occupational health law (vis-à-vis workers’ constitutional rights) in relation to hearing loss. We focus on gaps in the law regarding occupational hearing loss in South Africa.MethodOur review of legal texts relies on experience as a methodological device augmented by the use of a critical science. Guided by literature or evidence synthesis methodologies, South African primary and secondary laws were reviewed along with unpublished (non-peer-reviewed) grey literature. An established six-step framework guided our thematic analysis. A semantic approach aided the critical interpretation of data using the Bill of Rights as a core analytical framework.ResultsFour themes are discussed: (1) separate and unequal regulatory frameworks; (2) monologic foregrounding of noise; (3) minimisation of vestibular disorders; and (4) dilution of ototoxic agents. The highly divided legal framework of occupational health and safety in South Africa perpetuates a monologic ‘excessive noise-hearing loss’ paradigm that has implications for the rights of all workers to equal protections and benefits. There is a need to harmonise occupational health and safety law, and expand the scope of hearing-protection legislation to include the full range of established ototoxic hazards.ConclusionOccupational audiology is dominated by efforts to address noise-induced hearing loss. A ‘noise’ despite the reality of workers’ exposures to a range of ototoxic stressors that act synergistically on the ear, resulting in audio-vestibular disorders.