Legal framework and general duties

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2. Legal framework and general duties

Legal framework and duties of competent authorities

9. The competent authorities should:

(a) devise and maintain a national policy; and

(b) adopt laws or regulations to ensure the safety and health of workers employed in

forestry activities and to protect persons at, or in the vicinity of, a forestry worksite

from all risks which might arise as a result of the work activity.

10. National policy and laws and regulations on occupational safety and health

should be determined in consultation with the recognized organizations of employers

and workers.

11. Laws and regulations should be flexible enough and reviewed at appropriate

intervals to facilitate their adaptation to technological developments, new situations and

standards. Setting protection objectives rather than prescribing specific preventive

measures is one way of achieving such flexibility.

12. Laws or regulations should be supplemented in practice by technical standards,

codes of practice or authoritative guidance, consistent with national conditions and

practice.

13. The competent authorities should, through appropriate measures such as

regulations and inspections, aim at ensuring that forestry workers benefit from the

protection of regulations which are as effective as those which apply in other industrial

sectors.

14. The competent authorities should ensure that all forestry workers, irrespective

of their employment status, benefit from the same level of safety and health protection

and are subject to the same requirements for prevention.

15. Laws and regulations should place particular responsibilities on employers,

persons having control of premises, manufacturers, designers, suppliers of materials,

workers and contractors.

16. National laws or regulations ought to provide that:

(a) employers have the main responsibility for safety and health in forestry work;

(b) employers are responsible for installing and maintaining work systems and

methods which are safe and without risk to health;

(c) employers should give all necessary training and instruction to ensure that workers

are competent to carry out safely the tasks assigned to them;

(d) employers should install a system whereby accidents, dangerous occurrences and

occupational diseases are reported, recorded and investigated, and ensure that the

necessary adjustments are made to prevent or reduce the incidence of these

accidents, dangerous occurrences and occupational diseases in the future;