The Ministry of Labour And Social Security (MLSS) Service Delivery has been queried for lack of equipment to carry out Factory inspection by the Auditor General. The Ministry she says lacks the necessary tools and equipment to effectively carry out its functions.
The Ministry is responsible for safeguarding the employees and employers’ occupational health and safety. In order to achieve this, the Ministry conducts factory inspections and issue certificate of fitness for their operations.
The audit team observed that relevant factory testing tools such as digital multi-meter tester, carbon monoxide analyser, moisture meter, bench pressure gauge calibrator, combustible gas detector, heat treatment furnace, set of drilling pits, arc fault and ground fault circuit interrupter device tester, were not available.
Staff that were sent on inspection relied mainly on visual than technical testing. This resulted in critical tests like; test rope and chain testing, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) testing and annealing of chains not being carried out.
The ministry’s Permanent Secretary stated in his response that “Management underscores your observation that factory staff undertake inspections of factories without the proper tools resulting in critical tests not being undertaken. Indeed, this perennial problem limits the scope of the inspections leading to the decrease in revenue generation. Over the years, budget lines have always been created for the procurement of Liquid Petrol Gas Testing equipment and relevant tools but the meagre budgetary allocation to the Ministry have not been able to meet with the procurement cost.”
However, he added that management is working assiduously to acquire the appropriate tools for the execution of this significant task by engaging the Ministry of Finance and development partners to secure more funds for the Ministry.
ZJ/08/02/2021