ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Occupational Safety and Health Act
37. Prohibition notices
Edition: 2022-12-31 · In force
37. Prohibition notices
(1)This section applies to any activities which are being or are about to be carried on by or under the control of any person, being activities to or in relation to which this Act or the rules made thereunder apply or will, if the activities are so carried on, apply.(2)If as regards any activities to which this section applies an occupational safety and health officer is of the opinion that, as carried on or about to be carried on by or under the control of the person in question the activities involve or, as the case may be, will involve a risk of serious personal injury, the occupational safety and health officer may serve on that person a notice (in this Part referred to as “a prohibition notice”).(3)A prohibition notice shall—(a)state that the occupational safety and health officer is of the said opinion;(b)specify the matters which in his opinion give or as the case may be, will give rise to the said risk;(c)where in his opinion any of those matters involve or, as the case may be, will involve a contravention of any provision of this Act or the rules made thereunder, state that he is of that opinion, specify the provision or provisions in respect of which he is of that opinion, and the particulars of the reasons why he is of that opinion; and(d)direct that the activities to which the notice relates shall not be carried on by or under the control of the person on whom the notice is served unless the matters specified in the notice in pursuance of paragraph (b) and any associated contraventions of provisions so specified in pursuance of paragraph (c) have been remedied.(4)A direction given under subsection (3)(d) shall take immediate effect if the occupational safety and health officer is of the opinion, and states it, that the risk of serious personal injury is or, as the case may be, will be imminent, and shall have effect to the end of a period specified in the notice in any other case.(5)In order to enforce a prohibition imposed under this section an occupational safety and health officer may block, seal, bar, barricade, immobilise or fence off that part of the workplace, plant or machinery to which the prohibition applies, and no person shall interfere with or remove such blocking sealing, bar, barricade, immobiliser or fence.(6)An employer shall forthwith bring the contents of a prohibition notice issued under this section to the attention of the health and safety committee at the workplace, where it exists.(7)An employee shall not lose any wages or benefits for work not done as a result of the imposition of a prohibition notice.(8)Any person who having been served with a prohibition notice under this section—(a)continues to carry on the activities to which the notice relates; or(b)breaks or removes or defeats the blocking, seal, bar, barricade, immobiliser or fence specified in subsection (5),commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both and if the contravention in respect of which he is convicted is continued after the conviction, he shall be guilty of a further offence and liable in respect thereof to a fine not exceeding ten thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven days, or to both, for each day on which the offence is so continued.