CDA Consult calls for health justice framework to protect workers before and after retirement

The Executive Director of the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult), Mr Francis Ameyibor, has called for a progressive health justice framework that guarantees workers' health and safety throughout their employment and after retirement.

He said the framework should ensure that every worker enters employment healthy, remains healthy while working, exits employment in good health and retires healthy, rather than being abandoned when work-related health conditions emerge.

Mr Ameyibor noted that thousands of formal and informal sector workers, as well as retirees, were suffering from occupational health challenges without adequate support.

He expressed concern that many retirees develop health complications years after leaving active service, despite the conditions being linked to their previous work, but employers often escape responsibility.

“This situation undermines Ghana's pursuit of a 24-hour economy and a 10-billion-dollar industrialisation agenda…. you cannot achieve this with workers who are afraid that their work is silently killing them and that no one will take responsibility when they fall sick after retirement.

“We need a progressive health justice framework to create an enabling condition for the protection of the worker," he said.

In an interview with Modern Ghana News, Mr Ameyibor, a holistic health advocate, said employers in sectors such as mining, manufacturing, banking, security services, public and civil services routinely require prospective employees to undergo compulsory medical examinations before recruitment.

However, he described the practice as one-sided, arguing that employers who insist on knowing the health status of workers before employment often fail to assess the impact of the job on their health when they leave.

"Employers want to know your health status before they employ you to ensure you are fit and will not be a liability. But when you are leaving, after 10, 20, 30 years of service, no one checks what the work has done to your health. This is injustice and exploitation of the worker.

“The worker is simply issued an exit letter and dumped. That is unjust and defective and must be fixed," he said.

Mr Ameyibor, a development communication advocate, described the situation as a “use and dump” employment culture that must be addressed through reforms to Ghana's labour framework.

He disclosed that CDA Consult had initiated a national advocacy campaign for labour transformation and submitted a memorandum to the Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment, the committee reviewing the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), and other relevant stakeholders.

The initiative seeks to shift the country's labour framework from one focused primarily on wages to a system that places greater emphasis on occupational health, prevention and workers' long-term welfare.

According to him, the memorandum proposes the establishment of an Occupational Health and Safety Authority responsible for implementing Routine Health Assessment and Occupational Health Surveillance (RHAOHS), maintaining a National Occupational Health Registry and administering an Occupational Health Fund.

"Decent work is not just about salary. Decent work means you enter healthy, you work healthy, you exit healthy, and you retire healthy. If your work makes you sick, your employer must be responsible – not just today, but years after you retire," Mr Ameyibor stressed.

CDA Consult explained that its proposed RHAOHS system would introduce a mandatory 4-stage medical examination process covering workers before employment, throughout their service, immediately before leaving employment and for up to 10 years after exit.

The proposed examinations comprise pre-entry, continuous annual, pre-exit and 10-year post-exit medical assessments, supported by an Occupational Health Fund to ensure the system is financially sustainable.

Under the proposal, pre-entry medical examinations would be standardised, regulated and non-discriminatory. Their purpose, Mr Ameyibor explained, should not be to exclude prospective employees with manageable health conditions but to establish a baseline medical record for both the employer and employee.

The records would serve as a reference point for monitoring changes in a worker's health and identifying possible deterioration linked to occupational exposure.

The continuous annual assessments would track employees' health throughout their period of service, while pre-exit examinations would establish their medical condition when they leave employment through retirement, resignation, termination or the expiration of a contract.

CDA Consult proposes that the pre-exit examination should be conducted no more than one month before an employee's departure.

"Any work-related health issue discovered at pre-exit must become the full responsibility of the employer," he emphasised, adding that the obligation should cover medical treatment, compensation and rehabilitation under the Workmen's Compensation Act.

Mr Ameyibor further argued that occupational hazards may have consequences that only become apparent years after exposure, often at a time when retirees have limited financial resources to meet their healthcare needs.

He therefore called for a shift from treating occupational illnesses after they occur to identifying and preventing health risks throughout a worker's career.

He commended the Minister for Labour, Jobs and Employment, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) and other stakeholders for their efforts towards reviewing the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), which he described as outdated.