Global Compliance

Kuwait’s Oil & Gas Industry norms for Protecting Workers

State of Kuwait’s Government is committed to maintaining the safety and health of workers and improving the performance of workplaces to the best and highest levels in oil and gas area, to contribute to the prevention and reduction of accidents, injuries and occupational diseases. This is due to the application of legislation on the health and safety of workers in the Labor Law in the Petroleum Sector Number 28 of 1969 (the Labour Law). Where the law regulates worker safety standards by imposing obligations on the employer, Such as the provision of medical care and protective means to protect workers from the risk of injuries during work and the duties of the workers to follow them. From this point on, State of Kuwait has issued the new private sector Labor Law Number 6 of the year 2010 date 21 February 2010.

The regulation defined the basic criteria that the employer must take into account in the workplace and provide the basic needs of the workers of the means of prevention and definition of the risks of work and health care for workers. This article guides and assists the readers to know the duties of the employer that he is committed to providing for the security and safety of workers in oil and gas fields.

Labor and Employment Legislation in Kuwait

The Labor Law establishes the foundations and standards for maintaining the health and safety of workers that the employer must observe in all fields, including oil and gas:

Duties of the Employer:

According to Article 88 of the Labor Law, the employer shall provide medical facilities for his workers in the establishment, which shall be free of charge. The employer shall establish a front rescue point near the places of work with shall be equipped with the essential rescue equipment and the necessary first aid kit and there shall be inside the place a suitable communication facility which can be used instantly and a trained medical worker shall be appointed to supervise the rescue and first aid operations. In oil and gas workplace the employer shall provide drinking water and it shall be kept in special containers tightly closed up to avoid contamination and shall be placed near the reach of the workers and week in a manner hygienically approved. The employer must indicate to the worker before doing the risks that he may be exposed to and the means of prevention that he must take.

The Minister shall issue a decision specifying the types of activities to which the employer is obliged to provide the necessary equipment and means for the safety and occupational health of the employees of the oil installations. The employer must take precautions to protect the worker from the health damage and occupational diseases that arise from practicing the profession. The employer must provide first aid and appropriate medical services with the number of employees in the facility.

The employer undertakes to provide his workers with three meals a day in restaurants to be established by him for this purpose which shall be clean and satisfying the health conditions. If the meals are provided to the workers inside the oil and gas workplace, they shall be presented to the worker packed in a healthy manner or in tightly sealed containers. To supervise the cleaning inside the place of work, the lodging area, and the worker's water closets.

Occupational safety and health:

The employer shall inform the workers, before they take up work, of all the hazards they may be exposed to, and train them on the protective procedures. The employer shall take the necessary actions to provide sufficient protection of the worker's safety during their presence in work sites. The employer has to make sure that the conditions prevailing in the workplace are sufficiently safe for the workers' health. Particularly in terms of:-

• Lighting: by Provision of sufficient, adequate, natural or artificial lighting, free from direct or reflective rays.
• Heat and Cold: Technical methods should be used to control high temperature, such as absorbing substances or temperature reflecting devices.
• Ventilation: Avoid bad air by providing a natural or artificial ventilation system that provides fresh air in workplaces.
• The employer must provide work clothes and personal protection equipment adequate to the nature of work performed.

The worker duties:

In accordance with Article 87 of the Labour Law, the worker shall abide by the instructions of safety and vocational health at the establishment whiter prescribed by the law and instructions of the work. The Workers shall use the means of protection, safeguard them carry out the instructions. The workers shall keep themselves away from injuries and refrain from all acts intended to obstruct the implementation of these instructions or cause harm or damage to the means set up to protect the safety and health of their fellow workers.

In the event of Occupational Injury

Pursuant to Article 90 of the Labour Law, if the worker has an accident because of the work or during which the employer was required to report the incident immediately after it occurred or immediately after it became known to the police station, the labor department and the insurance company.

In case of Serious work accident:

The employer shall provide his workers in addition to the aforementioned with all other facilities of treatment which requires the assistance of specialist doctors or surgical operations or the like, as well as the necessary medicines. If the worker is treated in a government or private hospital, the employer shall incur the cost of treatment, medicine and in-patient care at the hospital. The employer shall send to the competent ministry statistics on accidents, occupational injuries and occupational diseases that occurred at the establishment periodically.

Glossary

• Laborer: Every male or female who does a manual or intellectual labor in favor of an employer, under his management and control against a fixed wage.
• Employer: denotes Every natural or legal person that employs laborers against a fixed wage
• Oil works:
• An operation for the search or detection of oil or natural gas, whether on the surface of the land or sea.
• Operations for the extraction of crude oil or natural gas, or to liquidate, manufacture, transport or ship the crude oil.
• Oil business owner: Employers who carry out oil works under a concession or license from the government or perform such works as contractors or subcontractors.
• Oil workers: Workers who work for oil business owners.
• Work: Any human effort- intellectual, technical or physical- exerted in return for a wage, irrespective of whether such work is permanent or temporary.
• Wage: Any consideration, in cash or in kind, given to a worker, in return for his service under an employment contract, whether on yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, piecemeal, output or commission basis. 
• Serious accident: Accident that causes a permanent total or partial disability or death to a worker, or causes injury to more than a worker, or leads to losses in production and equipment.
• State of Kuwait Labour Law in the Private Sector Number 6 of 2010.
• State of Kuwait Labor Law in the Petroleum Sector Number 28 of 1969.