The agency believes that currently the 90 days employers have to correct deficiencies identified during an inspection put workers at risk.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) resumed the project to tighten the inspection rules and reducing from 90 to five days the period that employers will have to correct irregularities and deficiencies identified during a visit, among other modifications that are proposed to the General Inspection Regulations.
This week, the STPS sent a project to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (CONAMER) which seeks to establish a five days period as the maximum term for employers to apply corrective measures for irregularities identified during an inspection on occupational safety and health, with the option to be extended for an equal period, as long as the employer proves that the deficiencies detected were caused by reasons outside the workplace.
Similarly, the amendments to the regulation propose granting employers a maximum period of five days, without the extension option, to present observations and evidence of irregularities detected during inspections of other matters, such as general working conditions or those of training and instruction.
Currently, the regulatory framework allows employers to have a period of between 30 and 90 days as a period to correct breaches identified during a visit by the authority. The STPS considers that the current scheme puts workers at risk.
“The lack of immediate compliance by the employers with the deficiencies observed, has generated a scheme of insecurity for the workers, since in some cases their physical integrity would be at risk,” the dependency on the project said.
In addition, the Ministry of Labor also notes that during the 90-day period, occupational accidents have occurred that put workers’ lives at risk.
“This reform will benefit workers, since there will be better control so that deficiencies in the workplace that endanger the lives of workers are promptly addressed by their employers. This will prevent accidents that endanger the physical integrity of workers, strengthening risk prevention actions”, mentioned the agency.
Although the employers will continue to have five business days to comment and present the evidence to the STPS, the new rules determine that in case of occupational safety and health inspections and employers have not allowed the procedure to be accomplished, even if they come forward to appear, the authority will issue “the refusal agreement in which the programming of the Extraordinary Inspection is ordered”.
The project document states that companies that are enrolled in voluntary compliance programs will not be subject to ordinary inspections.
Sanctions procedure
The new rules proposed by the STPS add new steps in the procedure for sanctions, such as the personal notification to the employer or his legal representative of the instruction agreement requesting the competent authority to impose the sanction.
Similarly, when the employer does not allow the inspector to enter the workplace, the authority will issue the closing instruction agreement, but for non-compliance with labor regulations and for the refusal to allow the inspection.
Among the adaptations to the inspection regulations, the Ministry of Labor will also establish that the agreements issued regarding the determination of registration, refusal or cancellation of the Public Registry of Contractors of Specialized Services or Specialized Works (REPSE) are subject to personal notification.
The agency recognizes in the project that these new measures can lead to compliance costs for employers because actions to be applied immediately may be more costly due to the haste to make corrections, but the authority considers that the benefit of modifying the regulation will be greater for both workers and employers.
“It is evident that, although compliance costs are generated to the patterns, more benefit is created for workers and in the short term also for workplaces, since a risk prevention system will generate savings for employers and establish security and legal certainty for workers”, stated the STPS.
Source: El Economista
