Strengthening Occupational Safety and Health Systems in Guyana

Objective
To strengthen Guyana’s occupational safety and health system so that workers are better protected as the economy grows, especially in high-risk sectors such as oil and gas. The project will support updates to national OSH laws, policies and regulations, while building the capacity of government, employers’ and workers’ organizations to prevent, identify and manage workplace risks. By June 2027, it aims to help Guyana put in place a more up-to-date OSH framework, including regulations for the oil and gas sector, and stronger national capacity to promote safer and healthier workplaces.

Background and justification
Guyana is undergoing rapid economic transformation, driven by major offshore oil and gas development and expansion in construction, mining, agriculture, energy, tourism and forestry. This growth is creating new employment opportunities, but it is also increasing workers’ exposure to occupational risks. A 2022 ILO study identified urgent labour needs in Guyana, including 5,000 workers in oil and gas and 8,000 in construction, while the country’s workforce is estimated at around 292,000 workers (World Bank, 2024).

Occupational safety and health is already a national priority. Guyana, with ILO support, has taken important steps to establish an OSH system. It adopted the OSH Act in 1997, established a national OSH policy in 2018, developed OSH Regulations, and ratified ILO Convention No. 155 (the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981) in 2012, which sets out the basic obligations of governments, employers, and workers to ensure safe working conditions. However, important gaps remain in enforcement, institutional capacity and alignment with international labour standards, including the promotional framework set out in Convention No. 187. The 1997 OSH Act requires modernization to address sector-specific hazards, particularly in oil and gas.

Therefore, the Ministry of Labour has formally requested ILO technical assistance for a comprehensive OSH systems upgrade. This project responds directly to that request. The project is aligned with the Guyana Decent Work Country Programme 2025–2030, particularly the priority to modernize the national OSH framework and improve workplace safety in sectors including oil and gas, construction and agriculture. It also supports the ILO Global Strategy on OSH 2024–2030, the ILO Programme and Budget outcome on safe and healthy working environments, the Safety + Health for All Flagship Programme and Sustainable Development Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth.
The project is also a direct contribution to the Guyana’s national development framework, i.e. the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030, and the United Nations Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

Theory of Change
This project is based on the understanding that safer and healthier workplaces in Guyana require action at both the national and workplace levels. It will support stronger laws and policies that set clear OSH standards, build the capacity of the institutions and tripartite constituents responsible for applying them, and improve the knowledge and practices of workers and employers in high-risk sectors. By combining legal and policy reform, tripartite consultation and targeted capacity-building, the project will help ensure that improvements in Guyana’s OSH system are practical, coordinated and sustainable. Ultimately, the project fosters an OSH culture as an environment where the right to a safe and healthy working environment is respected at all levels and workers return home safely.

The project pursues this through Four interconnected lines of action:

• Evidence Generation: Develop a national OSH profile that maps existing gaps, risks, institutional capacities, and priorities across sectors, providing the evidence base for all subsequent policy and legal work.
• Legal and Policy Reform: Conduct a legal gap analysis against ILO Convention No. 187, draft amendments to the OSH Act, and develop oil and gas sector regulations establishing the legal and regulatory architecture Guyana’s growing workforce requires.
• Capacity Building: Build the skills of labour inspectors, employers’ and workers’ representatives, and OSH professionals through targeted training - including a Training of Trainers programme for OSH in the oil and gas sector. NEBOSH training programmes support these actions.
• Social Dialogue: Engage government, employers, and workers throughout the process, from national validation workshops to tripartite consultations on legal reforms, ensuring that changes reflect the priorities of all key actors and have the broad ownership needed for implementation.

To ensure the sustainability of the intervention, project implementation is anchored within the National Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH). Established under the OSH Act, NACOSH is the official tripartite advisory body operating under the Ministry of Labour. Its mandate includes advising on the development of national OSH policy, safeguarding workers’ rights, and promoting safe and healthy workplaces throughout the country.
If these four lines of action are implemented together under NACOSH leadership, Guyana will have the legal and political frameworks, institutional knowledge, and tripartite commitment needed to sustain safer working conditions beyond the life of the project.

Project outcomes

• Outcome 1: The national OSH framework is strengthened through tripartite consultative processes, including an updated national OSH policy and programme, amendments to the 1997 OSH Act, oil and gas sector regulations, and progress toward ratification of ILO Convention No. 187.
• Outcome 2: National and sectoral capacities to identify and address occupational safety and health risks are strengthened, with OSH inspectors, employers’ and workers’ organisations, and OSH professionals better equipped to carry out their functions, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

Key outputs

• National OSH profile, policy and programme: A validated national OSH profile identifying gaps, institutional capacities, and priority sectors, informing an updated national OSH policy and programme developed through tripartite consultation.
• Modernized legal framework: A gap analysis against ILO Convention No. 187 and draft amendments to the 1997 OSH Act, together with sector-specific regulations for oil and gas, accompanied by a formal process to support Guyana’s ratification of Convention No. 187.
• Strengthened OSH capacity: A training plan and implemented training activities for OSH inspectors, workers’ and employers’ representatives, and OSH professionals, including a Training of Trainers programme for the oil and gas sector. Training activities developed in collaboration with NEBOSH.

Stakeholder beneficiaries
The direct institutional beneficiaries of project interventions are:

• Ministry of Labour of Guyana - the primary government counterpart, requesting partner, and lead on legal reform and ratification processes
• National Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH)
• Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) - the two national trade union centres, representing workers’ interests in tripartite processes
• Consultative Association of Guyanese Industry (CAGI) - representing employers, particularly those operating in high-risk sectors
• OSH inspectors and labour administration professionals responsible for enforcement and compliance monitoring

The ultimate beneficiaries are Guyana’s approximately 292,000 workers, in particular the estimated 5,000 oil and gas workers and 8,000 construction workers operating in conditions of elevated occupational risk and enterprises.

Governance structure
ILO Secretariat (DWT/CO-Port of Spain): The ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean will provide supervision, technical and administrative support and coordination. ILO specialists in occupational safety and health, employers’ activities, workers’ activities, social dialogue and labour administration, labour law and international labour standards will provide technical inputs, programmatic oversight and quality assurance.

ILO Technical Backstopping (OSHE Branch, Geneva): The ILO OSHE Branch provides technical backstopping and coordinates donor reporting and monitors results against the Safety + Health for All Flagship Programme

National Tripartite Partners (Ministry of Labour, NACOSH, FITUG, GTUC, CAGI): Government, employers’ organizations, and trade unions will engage in validation workshops and tripartite consultations throughout the project cycle, providing input on the national OSH profile, policy and programme, legal reform proposals, and training priorities.