ACCF CEO Parvez Akbar and Permanent Secretary for Employment, Osea Cawaru signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Employment in Suva today.

Employers must always comply with the Health and Safety Laws to protect the welfare of their employees.

This was the message from Accident Compensation Commission of Fiji Chief Executive, Parvez Akbar during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Employment in Suva today.

Akbar says employees must also reach out to ACCF if they feel that Occupational Health and Safety standards are not being met at their workplace.

“We still work closely with the ministry and so if there is situations we feel that the employer has breached basic health and safety, we refer that to the OHS team here in the ministry, who can then prosecute the employer.”

Permanent Secretary for Employment, Osea Cawaru says the MOU signing today formalizes the existing working relationship that the Ministry has with ACCF.

“The signing of the MOU today reflects the Ministry of Employment’s commitment in assisting team ACCF with investigations of workplace injuries and deaths when requested to implement activities that promote occupational health and safety and accident prevention in workplaces, through workplace inspections and audits.”

Cawaru says currently 559 cases of workplace accidents are being investigated by the Ministry, dating back to 2012.

He says most of these accidents are from high-risk industries such as manufacturing, construction, tourism and retail.