Dear Editor,
This is reality. Let us face it and deal with it. It is that Guyana’s work environment has undergone, and is continuing to undergo many huge, unprecedented transformation in many sectors, and all driven by the current economic boom, still in its incipient stages.
Rapid expansion is evident in the oil, gas, and large-scale construction sectors and this has spawned over 104,000 new jobs. Caveat though, as this rapid growth has engendered the need for urgent and immediate overhauls of the country’s 1950s-era labour and workplace safety laws. These have fallen, in some cases, into complete obsolescence.
Our Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, seemingly indefatigable and meticulous, outlined that “Guyana (is) moving to modernise outdated workplace health and safety laws.” To this kind of work, from the AG, I say ‘way to go’ indeed. As a matter of fact, just recently, I followed how the United Kingdom, under an Employment Rights Act 2025, overhauled British labour laws, where there was the ‘introducing of rights’ from ‘day one of employment’, guaranteeing minimum hours for zero-hour workers, and strengthening protections against sexual harassment.
In similar updating mode, Guyana, spearheaded by the Minister of Legal Affairs, the said Anil Nandlall, SC, is undertaking a comprehensive review of Guyana’s health and safety regulatory framework, since, as he poignantly described “… the country’s existing laws, as ‘outdated and ill-equipped’ to address the realities of a rapidly expanding economy.”
If I am accurately reading Anil Nandlall’s intent and direction, I think it is about the many recent shifts in the employment sphere, dealing with things like remote and digital work, the rise of artificial intelligence, and evolving gig economies and other areas that have forced (for) a modernization of labour laws. For example, in many jurisdictions worldwide, new legislation requires strict transparency in public job postings and rules mandating electronic monitoring policies for remote workers. The onus then is on governments to get and remain on par, and this will necessitate for promptness, as well as perspicuity, legally and socially.
Believe me, the AG has an unenviable job, as he has to accommodate many ‘Occupational Health & Safety’ issues such as hazards, ranging from escalating psychosocial risks (e.g., workplace burnout and harassment) to physical facility hygiene, and these all agitate for stricter OHS mandates and higher fines for repeated workplace violations.
In visiting the weekly ‘Issues in the News,’ I saw Nandlall detail that “… the current legislative framework (in Guyana) has failed to keep pace with the dramatic transformation of Guyana’s work environment, particularly in recent years.” This is what I just iterated, and I am glad that the matter is getting deserved addressing, and it seems as though this is being addressed with great alacrity, as it should be.
According to him, “We are currently reviewing the health and safety regulations of Guyana. The health and safety regulations or regulatory framework of Guyana is wholly antiquated, old and requires overhaul and modernisation.” For him, and in fact most everyone, Guyana’s workplace has indeed evolved significantly over the past three to four decades, and the corresponding legal framework must adjust.
Editor, as noted by the AG, it is undeniable that “… over the last five to six years, there has been an even greater transformation. The regulatory framework that existed before this unprecedented construction boom and economic boom that we are enjoying cannot regulate effectively and efficiently that which is taking place now.” Thus, according to Nandlall, the legal framework requires urgent reform, and with good reasons too.
He explained that the country has legislation dating back to the 1950s and 1960s that can no longer adequately regulate today’s work environment or provide sufficient protection for those operating within it. So, since the outdated regulatory system exposes multiple groups to unnecessary risks, including employers, employees, contractors and members of the public, the redrafting is necessary and urgent.
It is hard work, but the team the AG has is committed, and it is be led by the Ministry of Labour, under the direction of Minister of Labour Keoma Griffith, with support from the Drafting Department of the Attorney General’s Chambers. The objective is to regulate health and safety in Guyana.
Yes, Guyana must not lapse in this area. The country is continuing to experience rapid expansion in infrastructure, construction and oil and gas activities, thus increasing the need for updated occupational health and safety legislation, capable of meeting the demands of a modern workforce. It is good to know that we have a legal head, whose legal prescience is pre-empting us from unnecessary and avoidable workplace woes.