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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tuesday, January 10, 2012 BREAKING NEWS

Employee Compensation Act 2010: The Role Of Trade Unions-By Chika Onuegbu Newsdiaryonline Thurs Aug 18,2011 Prevention and protection are two essential factors when considering occupational accidents and diseases. Without preventive measures, all victims and their fami lies immediately fall under the Employment Injury Benefit EIB coverage, which ma y seriously harm the financial sustainability of the EIB scheme itself. On the o ther hand, without protective measures through an EIB scheme, there are no ultim ate social safety nets for the victims and their families if occupational accide nts and diseases occur. Prevention and protection are the two indispensible keys to running a functional EIB scheme. [2] 1. INTRODUCTIONThe International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that approx imately 2.3 million people die from accidents and diseases related to work each year. The daily death toll amounts to some 6,300 persons. The ILO also estimates that approximately 337 million occupational accidents occur annually and work-r elated diseases affect an additional 160 million people around the world. These estimates are as staggering as they are frightful. However the good news is that each of us either as individuals or groups can do something to change the situa tion and reduce these avoidable deaths and injuries in the workplace. This in my opinion should be the first choice for any trade union as far as the health and safety of the workers is concerned; and should continue to remain so irrespecti ve of the passage into law of the Employee Compensation Act. This is because it is in the best interest of the employee and his trade union that no employee is hurt through work and that the workplace is safe and healthy. Similarly, as the Iceberg diagram below shows, the indirect costs of occupational accidents and di seases to the employer are serious and so it is also in their interest that no e mployee is hurt at work or ill through work. Consequently the employers and the trade unions should work together to ensure that Occupational Safety and Health is in practice, an integral part of the day-to-day business of every organisatio n. Iceberg Diagram on Costs of Occupational Accidents/Diseases to Employers[3]To ac hieve this , it is my considered view that trade unions should ensure that all employers of labour have good and functional occupational safety and health mana gement systems. This is because occupational safety and health management system s(OSHMS) aim to develop a comprehensive approach to managing health and safety h azards, including legal obligations to provide a workplace free of risk, ensurin g continuous improvement of health and safety in the workplace, and reduction of the costs arising from workplace accidents, illnesses and workers compensation p ayments. In addition, the workers should ensure that they work safely, protect t hemselves and not endanger others. The workers should also know their rights wit h respect to health and safety and participate in the implementation of preventi ve measures. The trade unions should ensure that Health, Safety and security of their members are adequately addressed and given priority attention in the colle ctive bargaining agreements and in the day-to-day activities of the organisation

. The Trade Unions should also ensure that the various collective bargaining agr eements entered into by them clearly indicate the duties and responsibilities of all parties with respect to health, safety and security at the workplace. The second choice, which is about compensation, however is no less important. It complements the first choice( i.e. Preventive measures) and is aimed at ensurin g that if and when occupational accidents and diseases occur, that there is adeq uate safety net for the victims. To provide an atmosphere where this can be achi eved, the federal, states and local governments are expected to put in place law s, regulations and policies that will ensure that the conditions of work are saf e, healthy and secured; and that injured workers are adequately taken care of an d the families of workers who are killed/hurt because of the job are not abandon ed but adequately catered for. In furtherance of this constitutional duty[4] to protect the safety and health o f workers, the Nigerian Government has over the years enacted some legislations designed to promote the health, safety, welfare and security of workers includin g those designed to provide compensation in the case of injury/death such as th e compulsory life insurance provisions in the Pensions Act for the welfare of th e survivors of a worker and the various compensations provided for in the Employ ee Compensation Act 2010. The main legislations include: 1) The Factories Act cap 126 laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) 1990 2) Workmen's Compensation Act Cap. W6 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 200 4 ( now repealed by the Employee Compensation Act 2010) 3) The Minerals oil safety regulation of 1997 4) The Pension Reform Act 2004 5) The Harmful Waste (Special Criminal Provisions, Etc.) Act LFN 165 1990 6) Employee Compensation Act 2010 Kindly permit me to remind us that the focus of this paper is on the Employee Co mpensation Act and so I would limit my discussion to that Act. 2. OVERVIEW OF THE EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION ACT 2010 The basic objective of an Employment Injury Benefit (EIB) scheme is to ensure wor kers and their families a certain level of income in the case of disability or i ncapacity for work due to accidents and diseases related to work. This form of c ompensation is a fundamental labour right. [5] The signing into law by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR of the Employee Compensation Act 2010 which repealed the hitherto Workmen's Compensation Act Ca p. W6 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 is a welcome development. Prior to the enactment of the Employee Compensation Act, the Workmen Compensation Act wh ich was enacted in 1987 was obviously outdated and needed to be reviewed to brin g it closer to international best practices and relevant ILO Conventions .This gave rise to the new employee compensation Act 2010. The new law makes comprehen sive provisions for payment of compensation to employees who suffer from occupat ional diseases or sustain injuries arising from accident at workplace or in the course of employment[6].The Act applies to all employers and employees in the pu blic and private sectors in the Federal Republic of Nigeria except for any membe r of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria other than a person emp loyed in a civilian capacity[7].It also provides that the Nigeria Social Insura nce Trust Fund Management shall have power to implement the Act and Employees' C ompensation Fund ( into which shall be credited all moneys, funds or contributio ns by employers for adequate compensation to employees or their dependants for a ny death, injury, disability or disease arising out of or in the course of emplo yment). The Act also provides that ccompensation cannot be waived and that any

agreement between the employer and employee to that effect is unlawful, void and unenforceable and that the employer is not allowed to deduct (directly or indir ectly) from the employees remuneration for the purpose of the contribution to th e fund.

Part l- (sections 1to 3) Preliminary Provisions, covers objectives of the act, s cope and application, etc. and exemptions. Section 1 of the Employee Compensatio n Act 2010 list the objectives of the Act as follows: (a) Provide for an open and fair system of guaranteed and adequate compensation for all employees or their dependants for any death, injury, disease or disabili ty arising out of or in the course of employment; (b) Provide rehabilitation to employees with work-related disabilities as provid ed in this Act; (c) Establish and maintain a solvent compensation fund managed in the interest o f employees and employers; (d) Provide for fair and adequate assessments for employers; (e) Provide an appeal procedure that is simple, fair and accessible, with minima l delays; and (f) Combine efforts and resources of relevant stakeholders for the prevention of workplace disabilities, including the enforcement of occupational safety and he alth standards.

Part II -Procedures for Making Claims (sections 4 to 6), covers procedures for e mployee's notification of injury, employer's obligation to report death, injury or disease of an employee and application for compensation. This part essentiall y covers the statutory procedures for reporting and making claims resulting from workplace injury or disabling occupational disease or death. A failure by an Em ployer to make a report as statutorily required constitutes an offence unless th e Employer is exempted in writing from making such a report by the NSITF Board. Let me state that observing the procedures as stipulated in Act are very crucial to receiving the compensations in the Act. For instance, Section 4(which is rep roduced hereunder) stipulates the procedure for notification in case of injury a nd also states under section 4(4) that failure to provide the information requi red under Section 4(1) is a bar to a claim for compensation:. 4(I) In every case of an injury or disabling occupational disease to an employee in a workplace within the scope of this Act, the employee, or in case of death t he dependant, shall within 14 days of the occurrence or receipt of the informati on of the occurrence, inform the employer by giving information of the disease o r injury to a manager, supervisor, first aid attendant, agent in charge of the w ork where the injury occurred or other appropriate representative of the employe r, and the information shall Include (a) The name of the employee; (b) The time and place of the occurrence; and (c) In ordinary language, the nature and cause of the disease or injury if known . 4(2) in the case of a disabling occupational disease, the employer to be informe d of the death or disability is the employer who last employed the employee in t he employment to the nature of which the disease was due. 4(3) the employee shall, if he or she is fit to do so and on request of the empl

oyer, provide to the employer particulars of the injury or occupational disease on a form prescribed by the Board, and supplied to the employee or the dependant by the employer. 4(4) Failure to provide the information required under sub-section (1) of this s ection is a bar to a claim for compensation under this Act, unless the Board is satisfied that the (a) Information, although imperfect in some respects, is sufficient to describe the disease or injury suffered; (b) Employer or the employer's representative had knowledge of it; or (c) Employer has not been prejudiced, and the Board considers that the interests of justice require that the claim be allowed. Part III- Compensation For Death, Injury Or Disease ( sections 7- 16) ,covers c ompensation for injury, compensation for mental stress, compensation for occupat ional disease, compensation for hearing impairment, compensation for injuries oc curring outside the normal workplace, limitation of actions, subrogation, etc. I t provides under section 7(1 to 4) that: 7(1) any employee, whether or not in a workplace, who suffers any disabling inju ry arising out of or in the course of employment, shall be entitled to payment o f compensation in accordance with Part IV of this Act. 7(2) an employee is entitled to payment of compensation with respect to any acci dent sustained while on the way between the place of work and (a) The employee's principal or secondary residence; (b) The place where the employee usually takes meals; or (c) The place where he usually receives remuneration provided that the employer has prior notification of such place. 7(3) Where an injury disables an employee from earning full remuneration at the workplace, compensation shall be payable pursuant to this Act from the first wor king day following the day of the injury, except that only a health care benefit shall be payable in respect of the day of the injury. 7(4) where the injury or disease is caused by accident and the accident arose ou t of the employment, unless the contrary is shown, it shall be presumed that the injury occurred in the course of the employment.

Part IV-(sections 17 to 30) Scale Of Compensation, covers compensation in fatal cases, compensation relating to enemy warlike actions, period for making paymen ts, proof of existence of dependants, permanent total disability, permanent part ial disability or disfigurement, period of payment for permanent total or partia l disability, temporary total disability, temporary partial disability, health c are and disability support, duty of accredited medical practitioner and other sp ecialists, retirement benefits, payment of retirement benefits etc. Section 17 p rovides that where death results from the injury of an employee, compensation sh all be paid to the dependants of the deceased up to 90 per cent of the total rem uneration of the deceased employee for the widow(er) with two or more children d ependent on the employee, 85 per cent with one dependent child, 60 per cent for 50-year old and above without a dependent child or an invalid spouse, and 30 per cent for aged below 50 years but not being invalid and having no dependent chil dren. It further provides that the Monthly payments to eligible children shall b e made to children up to the age of 21 or until they complete undergraduate stud ies, whichever comes first;

Part V- deals with the Powers and Functions of the Board (NSITF), Part VI Employ ers' Assessment and Contributions to the Fund. A key aspect of these parts of th

e Act is the Employee Compensation Fund provided in section 56 and managed by th e NSITF. Section 33 of the Employee s Compensation Act provides that every employer shall within the first two years of the commencement of this Act, make a minimu m monthly contribution of 1% of the total monthly payroll into the Fund. After th e first two years, the NSITF Board is authorised to assess employers for such sum s in such manner, form and procedure as the Board may, from time to time, determ ine for the due administration of this Act. It is important to note that the NSITF Board is further authorised by Section 33(2) of the Act to from time to time, m ake regulations prescribing the categorisation of risk factors of each class or sub class of industry and the amount of contribution to be made and for differen t assessment rates applicable to each class or sun- class of industry, sector or work place.

3. THE ROLE OF TRADE UNIONSLet me once again restate that irrespective of the po sitive comments about any law /convention seeking to compensate employees who su ffer from occupational diseases or sustain injuries arising from accident at the workplace or in the course of employment, the primary focus of any organisation should be to provide a safe and healthy environment for the workers to fulfil t heir obligations. The issue of compensation, as a second best choice, should not be the primary focus but a fallback position; when things go wrong. This is bec ause when a worker leaves his residence to work for the upkeep of his family and contribute to the economy of his society and nation, he does so with a belief t hat he will come back to the warm embrace of his family at least the way he was when he left them. He does not expect that the work will howsoever lead to his d eath or disability or injury or ill health. There is therefore no gainsaying tha t he has a right to demand this from the society and the nation and that his emp loyer, the society and nation have a duty to ensure that this right to safety an d health at work is respected. Moreover the consequences of workplace fatalities , accidents, injuries, and sickness and disease conditions are far reaching both to the individual, the employer and the society. Anyakwe Nsirimovu[8] has submi tted that More than any institutional guarantees respect for human rights must be inherent in the habits and desires of the people of the society . It is also not surprising that Section 17 (3) (b and c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria also recognises the right to health and safe ty at work and requires that the conditions of work are just and humane, and tha t the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguarded an d not endangered or abused. Consequently the Trade Unions should continue to emp hasise the primacy of a healthy, safe and secured workplace. This will include t aking reasonable steps to make the employers ensure that the workplace, machiner y, equipment and processes under them are safe and without risk to health. It al so includes ensuring that the employers recognize the right of the worker to rem ove himself/herself from work situations that he/she has reasonable justificatio n to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to his/her life or health . It is my considered view therefore that the primary role of trade unions with re spect to the employee compensation act should be an integral part of their roles with respect to the health and safety of workers generally. Nevertheless, kindly permit me to state below what I consider to be the specific roles of trade unions with respect to the Employee Compensation Act 2010: 3.1 Review The Law And Identify Grey Areas For Consultation And Resolution:It is my considered view that the first reaction of the trade unions to any law enact ed by the National Assembly or any State House of Assembly is to carry out a com

prehensive review of the laws through workshops, seminars, corroborative meeting s with other stakeholders. It is also advisable that for a law with significant impact on the workers like the Employee Compensation Act, the Trade Union are ad vised to engage the services of experienced labour and compensation legal lumina ries to carry out a comprehensive review and evaluation of the Employee Compensa tion Act 2010 as well as drawing the attention of stakeholders to grey areas tha t could negatively impact on the implementation of the Act. 3.2 Education of Their Members and the General Public on the Provisions of the A ct:Trade Unions must make adequate arrangements to give proper publicity to the provisions of the Employee Compensation Act 2010. They should also ensure that t he key provisions of the Act are in languages or dialects understood by workers including illiterate persons. The importance of publicity and mass enlightenment of the Employee Compensation Act cannot be overemphasised. For instance Section 4 of the Act , as shown hereinabove under Overview of the Employee Compensation Act , list the procedure for making claims and states under section 4(4) that fail ure to provide the information required under Section 4(1) is a bar to a claim f or compensation. The fact remains that unless the employees and their labour uni ons are knowledgeable about the key provisions of the Act, the Act would not ser ve any useful purpose. Consequently the next most important duty of a trade unio n with respect to the Employee Compensation Act 2010 is to educate her members a nd the general public on the key provisions of the Act and ensure that they are well aware of their rights and responsibilities under the Act. They are encourag ed to summarise the key provisions of the Act in a bulletin for easy guidance of their members and the general public 3.3 Monitor Compliance and Report All Cases of Breach/Non-ComplianceThe Trade Un ions have a sacred duty to ensure that the Employee Compensation Act 2010 does n ot end up as a "paper promise" in the workplace. They must monitor the complianc e of the employers with respect to the provisions of the Act. They should also e nsure the Federal Government adequately staff their various agencies charged wi th responsibilities of monitoring compliance with the Employee Compensation Act as well as provide them with adequate facilities necessary to carry out their du ties. The organised labour (i.e. the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress) should also inaugurate their working committees for the monitoring an d enforcement of the Employee Compensation Act across the country and in each st ate of the federation. The NLC and TUC monitoring committees when formed should ensure that they work in close partnership with organised private sector and NEC A. They should also ensure that they direct their State Councils to work closely with the NSITF and National Council for Occupational Safety and Health in the S tate to ensure that the Act is seamlessly implemented 3.4 Enforcement of the Employee Compensation Act 2010They should recognize that the Government agencies charged with the enforcement of the Law cannot monitor e very workplace. In practice, the effectiveness of the implementation of labour p rotections depends to a very large extent on the worker's decision to act. Here the Trade unions have a very crucial role .They should give the workers the rele vant information about their rights/responsibilities and the necessary procedure s under the Act. They must also ensure that they assist the workers claim their rights by ensuring that these rights are included in the Collective Bargaining a greement; and that the workers claims pursuant to the Act are followed through t o the end. To this end, The Trade Unions should direct each of their branches an d negotiating units to ensure that the Employee Compensation Act is an integral part of their collective bargaining agreement with their various employers. Th e Employee Compensation Act should be a full Article in the Collective Bargainin g Agreement and the employer must undertake to comply fully with the provisions of the Employee Compensation Act 2010. Trade Union can play further play this role by ascertaining whether the respecti

ve employers are contributing to the fund as provided in the law. They could ins tigate NSTIF to publish list of contributing employers etc. This way the trade u nions can engage their respective employers with the information. 3.5 Promote Dialogue and Consultative Meetings among StakeholdersThe importance of social dialogue and consultation among the stakeholders in the effective mana gement of the Employee Compensation Act cannot be over emphasised. The organised Labour under the auspices of TUC and NLC should encourage social dialogue and c onsultation amongst the stakeholders with a view to ensuring the smooth and effe ctive implementation of the Act. The trade Union should engage NSITF on the possibility of NSITF maintaining a de sk or department of Labour Relations. This way, NSITF as the implementing body w ill get first hand feedbacks on the issues arising from the Employee compensatio n act. In addition, the NSITF should decentralise and restructure its operations to deliver quick service. It should also branches in all the states of the fede ration for greater efficiency. The trade unions should also engage NECA and thei r respective employers organisation on their preparations for the implementation of the Employee Compensation Act as well as share thoughts on practical solution s to identified grey areas.4. ISSUES AND CHALLENGESAt present, there are quite s ome challenges in the way of effective implementation of the Employee Compensati on Act in Nigeria. Some of these challenges against the effective implementation of the Employee Compensation Act 2010 are: 4.1 Culture of Impunity and Unwillingness to Obey the Law: The greatest challenge is the culture of catch me if you can in the observation of laws in Nigeria and it would be unreasonable to expect that the implementation and observation of the Employee Compensation Act 2010 would be different. Thisda y Newspaper Editorial[9] has also voiced this concern when it stated that Ordinarily, the fact of the president's assent should bring joy to Nigeria's tee ming workforce. But with the nation's record of comatose policies and unimplemen ted ideas, the enthusiasm the new law has generated may be short-lived if the as sent is not followed with decisive action. This is where the Nigeria Social Insu rance Trust Fund (NSITF) comes in. Only recently we saw clearly the unwillingness of the State Governors to respect the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act, 2011. Rumour also has it that any m oment from now the Federal Government would devalue the Nigerian Naira to around N200/1USD in an attempt at ensuring that the benefits of the N18, 000 wages doe s not accrue to the workers. This is the usual problem in the implementation of laws and policies in Nigeria; and it is my considered view that the Employee Com pensation Act 2010 would have its own fair share.

4.2 Non Passage of Bills on Occupational Health and Safety/Institute of Safety P rofessionals: The Employee Compensation Act risks being ineffective as the Bill for an Act to Repeal the Factories Act and Make Comprehensive Provisions for Occupational Safe ty and Health in Workplaces and for Matters Connected Therewith was not passed i nto law by the 6th National Assembly. Similarly the Institute of Safety Professi onals of Nigeria Bill which seeks inter alia to determine what standard of knowl edge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as sa fety professionals. The fact is that the first focus of any law to address workp lace health and safety should be prevention. The two bills that were not passed focuses on prevention. The Employee Compensation Act focuses on compensation whe n things go wrong and as such is only complementary. Consequently, the employee

compensation fund established under the Employee Compensation Act risks being ov erwhelmed due to high safety lapses and may fail. It is therefore my considered view that the NSITF and organised labour should quickly draw the attention of th e 7th National Assembly to these serious defects and ensure that these bills are passed to engender an atmosphere of prevention. 4.3 Employee Compensation When Employer Defaults In Contribution: The issue of compensating an injured or dead employee irrespective of whether th e employer has complied with the Employee compensation act 2010 has to be addres sed. There appears to be a gap on how the employee s right will be guaranteed whil e holding a defaulting employer accountable. There is need for vigilance by trad e unions as this could be exploited to the detriment of workers. This gap should be addressed in further updates of the act. 4.4 Maximum Mandatory Period for Compensation:It is not clear from the maximum d uration from the date of injury or death of an employee within which the employe e shall mandatorily be compensated. This has a potential of worsening the case o f an injured employee or the pains of the family of dead employees due to prolon ged delay in compensation. This gap could be exploited to deny payment of compen sation as it is not time bound. 4.5 Non-Unionised Workers, Casualisation and Contract Staff:Non-unionised worker s as experience has shown are the greatest victims of unsafe and unhealthy work places. Empirical evidence confirms that the respect for workers health, safety a nd dignity including the observation of the laws on Compensation payments are ve ry much likely to be violated for non-unionised workers, casual workers and cont ract staff of all categories. This position is also supported by evidence availa ble to global unions. For instance, the International Federation of Chemical, En ergy, Mine and General Workers' Unions(ICEM) had noted that participants at the many global and regional ICEM CAL meetings have made referen ce to a wide variety of problems faced by contract and agency labour workers, ra nging from employment insecurity and inferior salaries, pension rights issues an d working time problems, to major health and safety crises and brutal treatment and abuse of workers [10]. Moreover since many workers in this category do not have comprehensive documents on the status of their employment, there is a potential that employers can diso wn such employees in the event of injury or death. In addition, the employers ma y not make any contribution with respect to this category of employees. Trade Unions should therefore endeavour to unionise all workers so as to enable them enforce their rights.. It is important if they must continue to remain rele vant. Fortunately section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Extant labour laws, Article 10 of African Charter on Human and People Rights(Ratification and Enforcement Act) 1990 as well as various ILO conventions 87 and 98 guarantee the right of workers (including contract and agency staff )to join a trade union for their protection. Trade Unions should ensure that th ere should exist a minimum industry condition of service for workers irrespectiv e of the nature of their contract, that every organisation providing contract la bour have valid labour recruiter s license and that they must commit to full adher ence to the conditions in the labour recruiters license. I want to respectfully appeal to trade unions to continue to display courage and solidarity in the protection of the rights and welfare of Nigerian workers and in the mobilisation of Nigerians against unpopular government policies. This in my view is also in consonant with one of the most fundamental trade slogans of trade union - 'Solidarity forever ', which means support by union members ' for

each others ' struggles, and support by the stronger for the weaker within soc iety. 4.6 Administrative Capacity of the NSITF: There are doubts in some quarters as to whe ther the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has sufficient qualified pe rsonnel and appropriate administrative structure for the effective administratio n of the Employee Compensation Act 2010. It is our hope that the NSITF would ris e to the challenge and ensure the effective and seamless implementation of the Employee Compensation Act .Already the fact that the effective date for the impl ementation of the Act is way behind schedule does not help matters. 4.7 Membership of Independent Investment Committee:The Act provides for three Re presentatives of the most represented Employees organizations as members of the I ndependent Investment Committee. Given that there are two Labour centres namely, the Trade Union Congress of Nige ria (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), there is a lack of clarity as to how the third employees organization representative shall be determined. Moreo ver, the tenure of membership has not been stated. It is advised that the Trade Unions do not allow this ambiguity to break their ranks. They should collaborate with the Board for an equitable resolution. 4.8 Cooperation of Stakeholders: For the Act to be implemented effectively there must be sincere cooperation amon g the stakeholders- organised labour, employers, NSITF and government at all lev els. 4.9 Uncertainty as To Transition Arrangements:Although the effective date for ta ke-off of the Employee Compensation Act was January 1, 2011, the implementation of the Act is yet to commence in earnest. There are also doubts in some quarters as to whether the implementation could even commence this year due to some of t he identified challenges. Already some stakeholders have started nursing a pro posal for January 2012 effective date. This was however turned down with a gener al consensus that factoring all parameters, NSITF should be in a position to tak e-off next month (i.e. July 2011). The key concern here is what happens to an em ployee who sustains injury at work within this period when the implementation is yet to commence in earnest? Will he /she be compensated under the repealed work men compensation Act or will he/she wait aimlessly until the employee compensati on act takes off effectively? I was confronted with this question and I hope the NSITF will help me proffer solutions. Another area of contention is that if the Act took effect in January 2011 and it gave three months grace period, automatically billing ought to have started in April 2011. Will NSITF waive the billings when it effectively take-off or will i t demand arrears from April 1st 2011? Already it is reported that the Federal Go vernment has set aside N9bln as take-off grant for the Fund in line with the law .

5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONSYou will agree with me that the consequences of workplace fatalities, accidents, injuries, sickness and disease conditions are far reaching both to the individual, the employer and the society. The Internati

onal Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 270 million work accidents occur a nnually while 160 million are estimated to suffer from work-related illnesses. About 2.2 million die worldwide due to such accidents a death toll averaging som e 6,000 workers a day. I would like to think that this figure does not include f ormer employees whose health is now adversely affected by the work they did and by the conditions of the place they worked. This figure, if nothing drastic is d one, is sadly expected to grow in view of the current global financial crises, o ther emerging risks and the changing pattern of works. This therefore underscore s the importance and urgency of this paper. The trade unions must ensure that p rovisions of the Employee Compensation Act 2010 are implemented and that the gen eral attitude to safety and health in the workplace is greatly improved upon. T hey should also take note of the various recommendations and concerns expressed in this paper. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------*Comrade Higgins Chika Onuegbu JP,FCA is the State Chairman, Trade Union Congres s of Nigeria (TUC) Rivers State and the National Industrial Relations Officer of Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). He is also a member of International Labour and Employment Relations Association.He ca n be reached on: Tel 08037404222/ Email: chikaonuegbu@yahoo.com. Please note th at opinions and comments expressed in this paper are strictly personal. [2]International Labour Organization, 2010: Employment injury benefi ts : occupat ional accident and disease insurance systems . ILO DWTST and Country Office for E astern Europe and Central Asia. Moscow: ILO, 2010.Page 20. [3] [3]International Labour Organization, 2010: Employment injury benefi ts : occ upational accident and disease insurance systems . ILO DWTST and Country Office f or Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Moscow: ILO, 2010.Page 15. [4] Section 17 (3) (b and c ) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria requires that the conditions of work are just and humane, and tha t the health, safety and welfare of all persons in employment are safeguarded a nd not endangered or abused [5] International Labour Organization, 2010: Employment injury benefi ts : occupa tional accident and disease insurance systems . ILO DWTST and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Moscow: ILO, 2010.Page1. Please also take note that the terms employment injury benefits , occupational accidents and diseases comp ensation/benefits and workers compensation are frequently used interchangeably. Work ers compensation is the older term, generally used to refer to schemes which prov ide benefits in the case of death and incapacity due to accidents at work and, l ater, due to prescribed occupational diseases as well. The term employment injury is used as the ILO term to cover both accidents at work and occupational disease s (ILO, 1986). [6] Employee's Compensation Act, 2010- Explanatory note to the Employee Compensa tion Act [7] Section 3 of Employee Compensation Act 2010 [8] Anyakwe Nsirimovu (1997) Human Rights: An Umbilical Cord Of Partic ipatory Democracy. Institute Of Human Rights And Humanitarian Law. Page 14 [9] Thisday Newspaper Editorial anuary 2011 Nigeria: The Employees Compensation Act 2010 . 26 J

[10] ICEM GUIDE ON CONTRACT AND AGENCY LABOUR 2008 Page 15.

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