NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

(NACOSH)

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) is established under section 27 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA 2007) with an advisory role to the cabinet secretary responsible for labour and social protection on matters of occupational safety and health (OSH). In addition, the OSH Fund regulations under the Public Finance Management Act gives NACOSH the mandate to approve expenditure of the Occupational Safety and Health Fund (OSH Fund) at the beginning of each financial year in accordance with the work plan and budget prepared by the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services (DOSHS).

The role of NACOSH is to provide strategic direction to the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services. This is especially in view of the fact that the field of OSH is wide and undergoes rapid changes in practice and in tandem with the developments in industry and the workplaces in general. This strategic direction includes policy as well as legislative changes, innovative ways of administering OSH, process re-engineering, leveraging on technology, resources mobilization and access to organs of state such as the legislative assembly, the judiciary as well as private entities involved in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)

Drawing from a diverse membership both in private and public institutions, NACOSH provides DOSHS with a view of stakeholder representation and makes the administration of OSH more responsive to the needs of all the players in OSH matters.

The Council has been instrumental in providing leadership that has enabled among other initiatives, research on “assessing workers knowledge on occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation in the workplace”, commemoration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work every year with marked improvements in each consecutive year, formulation of advisories after visits to specific industry sectors and selected DOSHS field offices, provision of oversight in the collection and expenditure of OSH Fund and initiation of legislative reforms towards improving the administration of OSH in Kenya through review of the principal legislations of OSHA and WIBA as well as various subsidiary legislations amongst many other initiatives.

All NACOSH members are appointed by the Cabinet Secretary for a term not exceeding three years. The current NACOSH is the fifth and started being constituted in July, 2024. The current NACOSH has twelve (12) members comprising of the vice Chairperson, independent members, representatives of the Labour tripartite Social Partners and representatives of key institutions that play a role in Occupational Safety and Health matters. The Secretary of Occupational Safety and Health Services is an ex-official member and the Secretary to the Council.