Employees Rights to Safety is one thing no one can take away from you as a legitimate employee, and your employer has been mandated to respect these rights – It is called the duty of care to an employer.
It is quite unfortunate that most employees are ignorant of their rights.
This article aims to educate employees on “Employees Rights to Safety’ so that their rights will not be trampled upon by irresponsible employers.
If you are an employee, this article is a must-read for you.
The employer is saddled with the duty of care. It is a statutory requirement that they protect the workers who are working for them.
Employees Rights to Safety
Here is an inconclusive list of some Employees Rights to Safety:
- Right to safe plant, safe equipment, tools, materials, and appliances
- Right to a safe and secure system of work
- Right to the provision of competent fellow employees
- Right to the provision of safe place of work
- Right to adequate training
- Right to provision of welfare facility where applicable
- Right to fair injury compensation
1. Right to safe plant, safe equipment, tools, materials, and appliances
As an employee, you have the right to a safe plant, safe equipment, tools, materials, and other appliances in the workplace. This will aid in rendering your services adequately.
The employer may be in breach of his duty by failing to meet this duty to his employee.
2. Right to a safe and secure system of work
As an employee, you have the right to a safe and secure system of work. As an employee, you also have the right to notify your employer of cases, situations, or conditions that you believe could pose any level of risk to you.
The employer must draw up a system of how work is to be done, the persons to do the work when a particular thing is and is not to be done without compromising the safety of his workforce.
3. Right to the provision of competent fellow employees
As an employee, your employer has the responsibility of providing you with competent fellow employees. Since working with an incompetent fellow employee could pose a serious safety risk to you as an employee, you need a fellow competent employee, and your employer is mandated to make that work.
4. Right to the provision of a safe place of work
As an employee, you have the right to a safe workplace at all times. If the workplace is not safe, you should notify your employer.
It is the duty of the employer to provide a safe working environment for his employee, where the employee will be safe to carry out his work effectively. Stringent measures are expected to be taken by the employer to make sure the workplace is safe for his employees at all times.
5. Right to adequate training
You have the right to effective training on the task you are assigned to carry out. This is to enable you to work efficiently and be up to date on new inventions.
6. Right to provision of welfare facility where applicable
As an employee, you have the right to good and functioning welfare facilities where applicable. This welfare facility includes but is not limited to washing points, restrooms, changing rooms, bathrooms, toilets, canteen, etc. The employee is statutorily expected to ensure that these facilities are in good condition at all times.
7. Right to fair injury compensation
As an injured employee who got injured while working for the employer, you deserve to be compensated as of right. The enabling law which confers on him this right is the Employee’s Compensation Act.
Conclusion
These employees rights are documented in legal documents like the Factories Act, Labour Act, Compensation Act, etc. This makes these rights legal, and any employer who breaches any of these rights could face the consequences if taken to court.
Based on your country, you may have a different act that protects you as an employee, get to know them. That is your support.
As I said earlier, you must know your rights as an employee. This article concentrated on employees’ rights to safety, there are other rights stipulated in the documents I mentioned, pick a copy of these documents and read them.
If you feel your right has been infringed at any point in time, feel free to involve a lawyer; you have the full backing of the law.
Remember: Knowledge is power
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