Occupational Health & Safety Management

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT

The Authority shall put adequate measures in place in order to keep the port area free of occupational health and safety risks. The use of personal protective equipment on the port premises shall be stringently enforced. Activities in the port shall be closely monitored to ensure that the port community is not exposed to significant occupational hazards. Other regulatory and reactive measures like care for the physical and marine environment, limiting working hours of port workers, issue of permits to work, the institution of safe code of practice for the handling, storage and transportation of dangerous goods, operation of plant and equipment, and accident reporting shall be enforced. Conscious and continuing training shall feature prominently in the Authority’s Occupational Health and Safety Management Programmes.

2.1 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)

The health and safety of port users i.e. employees of the Authority and other port operators are of paramount importance to the Authority. All port users shall be supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment by their employers as protection against injury, accidents, and occupational hazards. Employers shall provide PPEs at no cost to the employee.

All employers shall provide PPE at no cost to their employees.
All port employers shall provide a set of basic PPE to their employees at no cost. This shall include a pair of steel-toed boots, a helmet, reflective jackets, and a pair of gloves. Additional PPEs shall be provided depending on the conditions at the workplace.
Employers shall be required to provide PPEs to workers employed in port activities or places where:
Excessive fumes/dust is present.
It is wet, cold, or exposed to dangerous elements.
There is bodily contact with an accumulation of oil, grease corrosives, etc.
Hot particles exist.
The environment is noisy.
The environment is unhygienic.
It is not possible to enclose or isolate the work process from the workers.
It is not possible to provide adequate ventilation.
There are slips, trips, and falling hazards.
Where conditions require an employee to appear neat and hygienic
PPEs supplied to Authority’s own workers shall remain the property of the Authority. These shall be returned by employees in exchange for new ones when required; and on cessation of employment, Specialised PPEs supplied for specific assignments shall be returned at the end of such assignments.
All Authority’s employees issued with PPEs shall be held accountable for any misuse, abuse, non-use, or waste of such equipment and shall be liable to disciplinary action
All managers and supervisors of the Authority shall ensure that their subordinates working in the port use appropriate PPE at all times.
Port workers who do not use the appropriate PPEs may be turned away from the job and sanctioned.
Port operators and other employees in the port who employ persons who are not clothed in the appropriate PPEs shall be sanctioned.
The Authority’s own employees who misplace any PPEs issued to them shall be surcharged with the cost of the item misplaced.
The Authority’s Managers viz Heads of Departments and sections and their immediate supervisors shall ensure that PPEs supplied to non-permanent employees are returned at the end of their tenure. Heads of Department, Sectional Heads, and Supervisors who do not comply shall be surcharged with the cost of such items.
The selection of any type of PPE shall be the responsibility of the Safety Department in consultation with the user Department/Section.

2.2 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND HYGIENE

The Authority shall take adequate steps to control the conditions that govern work, which if not properly controlled, could adversely affect the health of the people exposed to them. In this regard, the Authority shall:

Maintain surveillance of the work environment, including toilets, canteens, and offices to identify factors that may affect workers’ health.
Take every step reasonably practicable to reduce noise at source to the lowest level at all workplaces. All port workers who are constantly or regularly exposed to high noise levels shall be required to wear some form of ear protection equipment.
Take all reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce dust and fumes to acceptable limits by installing appropriate procedures, methods, and/or efficient control systems such as extraction and ventilation. Where such systems may be insufficient, the Authority shall provide suitable and sufficient personal respiratory devices or equipment as necessary to safeguard the health of the individual employee.
Control exposure of port workers to substances hazardous to health.
Provide adequate lighting at all workplaces, taking into consideration the acceptable luminance levels required for various tasks and jobs.
Reserve the right to require all persons who prepare and sell food on the premises of the Authority to undergo a medical examination to ensure their workers do not carry communicable diseases.
Prohibit the sale of alcohol on the premises of the port.
All persons working in noisy environments shall be required to undergo periodic audiometric tests

2.3 WORKING HOURS

The Authority recognizes that fatigue is a major cause of accidents. Consequently, no person employed in cargo operations viz. stevedore gangs, shore gangs, crane drivers and winchmen, plant operators, etc. shall work for more than 8 hours during any particular shift.

All persons employed to operate heavy-duty cargo handling equipment above 40 tonnes shall be required to take short breaks after long continuous operations.

2.4 PERMIT-TO-WORK

Any operator seeking to perform any work in the port shall obtain permit-to-work prior to the execution. The following activities shall require permit-to-work:

Civil and Electrical works
General Engineering works
Hot works
Chipping
Diving and salvage
Bunkering

2.5 HANDLING, STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF DANGEROUS GOODS

All handling, transportation, and storage of dangerous goods shall be in accordance with the provision of the IMDG Code and Port Regulations and administrative directives that may be issued from time to time.

2.6 PLANT AND EQUIPMENT OPERATORS

All persons employed to operate powered industrial trucks e.g. Forklift trucks, mobile cranes, Ro-ro tractors and trailers, etc shall be required to undergo appropriate training and be licensed by a competent authority.

All equipment operators shall be required to undergo mandatory eye test every year as part of the requirements for the renewal of their licenses or certificate of competence

2.7 ACCIDENTS

All accidents shall be reported in writing to the Managing Director and Safety Manager within twenty-four hours of their occurrence. All accidents shall be investigated by the Safety Manager.
It shall be an offence to fail to report an accident especially one that leads to injury, death, or damage to port property.
In the event of a very serious accident that may not require immediate medical treatment, the accident scene should be left undisturbed until a preliminary investigation has been conducted. Near-miss accidents and dangerous occurrences must also be reported.
The Safety Department shall have the responsibility to investigate all accidents, including marine accidents. All employees and port operators, port users, and other person(s) concerned may be required to assist in the investigation of accidents.
In order that the conditions of the reporting of injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences regulations (RIDDOR) can be complied with, it is necessary that Accident Report Forms are forwarded to the Safety Office within 24 hours of the accident.

2.8 HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING

The Authority shall promote occupational health and safety training among port employees and other port users. Occupational health and safety training shall be continuous and aimed at achieving an accident-free working environment and eradicating occupationally related illnesses.