The Ministry of Labor in the Republic of Ecuador, as in most countries, is the governing body to perform the functions of inspections to verify and ensure compliance with labor regulations in companies. For this purpose, the Regional Directorates of Labor and Employment have officials to perform these functions.
In addition, within the organic structure of the Ministry of Labor, there is the support of technicians (also known as analysts/specialists) of the Directorate of Safety, Occupational Health and Integrated Risk Management, with exclusive dedication in functions related to the verification of safety and health conditions in companies. This editorial note shows some basic actions that could be considered for the improvement of the inspection performance in the country: the optimization of inspectors, the advisory role and the inspection criteria.
Optimization of inspectors
The correct application of labor legislation requires, among other things, a responsible and social commitment on the part of companies towards their workers, as well as a sufficient number of inspectors to guarantee the supervisory function in the area of occupational health and safety. In fact, it has been shown that labor inspectorates promote the improvement of working conditions in companies and, therefore, have a positive impact on workers' health. In this sense, the optimal benchmark is considered to be 1 labor inspector per 10,000 workers.
In countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region, the ratio ranges from 0.1 to 1.9 inspectors.
For the case of our country, as far as we know and for 2019, the ratio stood at 0.6 inspectors of the
and 0.04 technicians. Therefore, there is clearly a deficit to cover the 3.7 million workers. The increase in the number of inspectors according to international recommendations and their homogeneous distribution throughout the national territory would be one of the first actions to be considered as a priority in public agendas.
Advisory role
Traditionally and up to the present day, labor inspectors have been described as a policing and sanctioning authority. However, the system of fines has not proven to be the most effective mechanism for ensuring legal compliance in occupational safety and health. A second action, without neglecting the rigorousness of the functions of labor inspectors, would consist of readjusting the current supervisory role to one of advising on the promotion of safety and health in “healthy organizations” workplaces, rather than on economic sanctions themselves. For this change in the way of acting, in addition to the previous point, it would be appropriate to promote the professional career with high standards and ethical practices among labor inspectors, as proposed by the International Association of Labor Inspection.
Criteria for on-site visits
There may be shortcomings in the preventive management of companies. Recently (August 2022), the checklists for compliance with legal requirements in this area have been updated. Companies are obliged to evidence (communicate) their occupational health and safety management by means of a report in a web system of the Ministry of Labor (Sistema Único del Trabajo - SUT). The information generated makes it possible to know the percentage of compliance of each company and, in turn, is used as one of the criteria for on-site visits for those cases in which insufficiencies are observed. However, the truth is that it seems unavoidable to suspect the existence of a gap between what has been declared and reality. As a third and last action, and in order to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency of the inspection activity considering the available resources, it would be very beneficial to include other alternative criteria for the prioritization of those companies to be audited. The results of the application of occupational accident rate indicators would be very useful in facilitating the identification of economic activities with a greater risk to workers' health, considering the size of the company and territorial location (9,10).
In conclusion, it is worth highlighting the important work carried out by the Safety, Occupational Health and Integrated Risk Management Department in recent years, although we must recognize the need to reflect on the actions outlined in this brief editorial note if the current status quo is to be overcome.
Antonio Ramón Gómez-García
Director of the Ecuadorian Observatory of Occupational Safety and Health (OESST)
Espiritu Santo University
