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A Case for Workers' Compensation Reform in Sierra Leone / employers Liability System
Information general
Under the terms, articles and conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Occupational Safety and Health Convention No. 155, (1981) and Occupational Health Services of the ILO Convention No. 161, (1985), the main responsibility for health and safety of the employees employers.
the current regulatory framework of Sierra Leone to accidents goes back to the 1960 accident compensation law, with amendments in 1962, 1969 and 1971. In addition, a plethora of regulations, including the V11 factories Act 1974 and the recent 2001 National Social Security Insurance Trust Act (NASSIT) covers all aspects of occupational accidents and diseases, financing, reporting, investigation and enforcement.
The cost, severity and frequency of workplace accidents Sierra Leone has been substantial. Although the current statistical figures are not available, a cursory survey of reasons given for hospital visits over the past decades shows a large percentage attributed to excessive industrial accidents and occupational diseases.
The program Sierra Leone is essentially an "at-fault" system of voluntary employer liability were an injured worker has to sue her employer company or employer liability insurance policy to recover medical expenses and lost wages.
As a civil liability action damages for negligence, an employer may be common law defenses such as contributory negligence, assumption of risk and fellow State for prevent or mitigate an injured worker recovery.
The need for "no fault" Mandatory State Model
The focus of this piece is to highlight and advocate the urgent need for legislative and regulatory reform of the laws of the country of workers' compensation, with the aim of transforming the conceptual model of the current voluntary "at-fault" system on a "no-fault" system mandatory.
The problems inherent endemic, and barriers to conducting oversight of the health and safety are systemic in nature and can only be adequately addressed through a compensation program workers may also contribute to improving the safety and health practices to limit the need for compensation.
While recognizes the inevitable difficulties in implementing the no-fault system, none of the barriers will be considered insurmountable, provided the stakeholders and especially the government are determined to effect change.
A first step in making these changes is the pooling of various stakeholders, including employers, employees, the chamber of commerce, labor, government, health care providers and civil society under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour, Social and Labor Relations and the Ministry of Health to develop and adopt a "no-fault" system in a framework of social risk management that address such fundamental issues as:
1) insurance,
2) compensability,
3) coverage of the system,
4) benefits,
5) administration
6) litigation and
7) insurance pricing.
The adoption of a state fund monopoly or exclusive "Model", require workers' compensation insurance to buy only from the state fund would be best suited to the emerging situation in Sierra Leone economy work. The system must assure employees of prompt, adequate and certain, independent of any wrongdoing by employees and employers. The resulting benefits of improving conditions in the labor force for that State workers' compensation insurance mandated program will also result in productivity gains significant.
Core Principles
It is anticipated that the amended law compensation of employees enter the following basic principles:
1) Ensure that an employee victim of an accident at work is provided compensation and thus the means of support, while unable to work.
2) Make sure the injured worker receive medical treatment at no cost to the employee, for a speedy recovery.
3) Make sure the injured worker is offset against the overall budget for any permanent disability.
4) Make sure that the dependents of an employee who dies from a work accident compensation will (death benefits) and burial allowances.
5) Make sure that an injured worker is not discriminated against by their employer due to accidents.
In furtherance of these principles, legislation should be enacted requiring the creation and implementation of responsibility by all employers to compensate employees for injuries sustained during course and scope of employment irrespective of fault.
As noted above, the current common law action litigation, with its inherent demands test involves:
- Intolerable delay and great economic losses
- Provides inadequate relief for loss and suffering
- Works unequal among people in similar circumstances
- Is it unfair and ill-suited to working conditions and social conditions in Sierra Leone.
Guiding Theory
The guiding theory proposed compensation system for new workers is that the "risk" of injury to workers in Sierra Leone should be borne by industries and employers for whom they work, rather than by the worker alone. Its aim is to create a paradigm shift from socialized health care system whose costs continue being borne entirely by the government.
However, despite the initial load placed on the employer, the system provides that the burden will be distributed as part the cost of production and business among the population consumes. In this system, the society supports the program as an integral element of commerce and industry, rather than through the current government only supported health programs and plans.
Current Challenges System
In the current system of Sierra Leone, a key variable in the social cost of workers compensation is the opportunity cost of the premium payments for coverage against the lack of complaince and enforcement of labor laws.
The refusal of most employers to buy employers' liability voluntary insurance, which provides protection against accidents at workplace, poses a great challenge for the protection of workers in Sierra Leone. Employers most of which are sole proprietorships or small-scale businesses have for decades used the enforcement regime exists, the volunteer who was at fault the system offers, to the detriment of their employees.
In addition, the system is skewed in favor of employers, provides no incentive for employees to improve health and safely. It is postulated that with the introduction of risk assessments, contributions and premiums are directly related to the risk level of the workplace, employer offering a direct incentive to take optimal safety measures and thus reduce accidents.
Under the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) The figures in 2006, is currently registered with the NASSIT approximately 2924 business premises with a population of 126 749 insured employees. The Business Survey 2005 Establishment of Statistics Sierra Leone however, reported a total of 11 021 commercial establishments in their business registration. These figures, compared with the proportion of employers Liability / Workmen 's compensation policies signed by the seven major insurance companies in Sierra Leone highlights the need for change.
The policy coverage for employers and businesses, under the civil liability regime voluntary employers, provided that all insurance companies in Sierra Leone is a conservative bound less than a 3 percent penetration of potential employees.
The difficulty of ensuring people especially in the informal sector, which dominates economic activity and offers a great mass of workers in Sierra Leone has a particular risk, since these workers often be employed in work of very high risk exposure and the industries where the lack of protection can have serious consequences for health and safety.
Conclusion
Having established the NASSIT, designed to administer the statutory social security scheme, which provides security financial employees in the form of insurance for old age, invalidity and survivors, is only a logical progression at this point that the Ministry of Labour, Social and Industrial Relations in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and other ministries and stakeholders, must embark on the creation and maintenance of a system monopolistic workers compensation to mitigate the accidents at work in Sierra Leone.
About the Author
The author, Mr. Kortor Kamara has over 25 years experience in the insurance industry both in Sierra Leone and the United States. He is a Chartered Property & Casualty Insurer and holds the Workers Compensation Claims Professional (WCCP) designation. He is a Member of the Chartered Insurance Institute ( London); Certified Self-Insurance Claims Administrator-State of California; Registered World Bank Consultant and has served as a Consultant on various Insurance initiatives in Sierra Leone, including design of the country’s first Title Insurance Policy.
In addition, Mr. Kamara is a graduate of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, 1978-1981; studied Law at both the Univerisity of West Los Angeles School of Law and the California Southern School of Law in Riverside. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Insurance and Risk Management.
Through association with Saddleback Re, were he serves as the Regional Manager, Africa Division, Mr. Kamara is intimately involved in the provision of reinsurance coverage, policy design, loss control, training and risk management services to the African Insurance marketplace.
www.saddlebackre.com.
Young Voices of Sierra Leone