Posted By bluesail461 Hello everyone I am being asked to get involved with a project in Bahrain which may or may not incorporate H&S issues on a major construction project. I would be grateful if anyone can steer me in the right direction as to who to ask regarding legislation. I think the contract will be governed by UK law which is fine, but are there any specific additional local duties/ statutory obligations that I need to consider when putting my Project H&S pack together? Advice/ info would be much appreciated cheers jez

Posted By Teresa Budworth We (NEBOSH, not the Budworths!) have visited a number of organisations in Bahrain and found some beacons of excellence in health and safety practice. The history of health and safety law stretches back to the 1930’s. There is now a considerable amount of Bahrain health and safety law which was developed mainly in the 1970’s and primarily consist of an overarching statute decree with supporting Ministerial Orders dealing with specific subjects. The Labour Law for the Private Sector, 1976 Promulgated by AMIRI DECREE LAW No. 23 OF 1976 is the overarching labour law with Articles 91-97 pertaining to general duties health and safety duties of employers. The Labour Inspection function was established under The Labour Law for the Private Sector, 1976 promulgated by AMIRI DECREE LAW No.23 of 1976. This law has a similar structure to that in place in the UK prior to the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974 and is generally prescriptive in nature although since the year 2000 there have been attempts to introduce a more goal-setting type of health and safety law. Ministerial order no.6 of 2000 contains some duties relating to management responsibility, training, provision of equipment, appointment of competent advice and establishment of safety consultation. We do have some more detail on the current safety & health law if you need it (e-mail me), but I believe there may be some changes proposed. The Bahrain Health and Safety Society are a Non-Governmental Organisation and are the professional body for health and safety in the Kingdom. They have a Memorandum of Understanding with IOSH and some overlap of membership. Contact details are on http://www.moh.gov.bh/societies.asp