Ensuring Health and Safety Rights of Employees at Workplace in Sri Lanka: A Comparative Legal Analysis

Abstract

The main objective of the research is to critically analyze the role of Sri Lankan labour laws in ensuring health and safety rights of employees at the workplace with a comparison of Australian law. Health and safety at the workplace are of paramount significance as it directly impacts the well-being of employees and the overall productivity of the workforce. Ensuring a safe and healthy work environment not only shields employees from occupational hazards but also enhances their physical and mental well-being, leading to heightened job satisfaction and improved performance. A considerable number of labour laws ensure the protection of workers’ health and safety rights in Sri Lanka. However, despite the existence of these laws, challenges persist in their effective implementation and actionability. First, this research intends to examine the scope and adequacy of health and safety rights of the employees at the workplace in Sri Lanka. Second, it evaluates the international legal standards and health and safety laws in Australia to extract comparative and best practice examples. Finally, this research intends to make policy recommendations to strengthen the Sri Lankan law relating to health and safety rights of employees at the workplace. The research adopts a doctrinal legal research approach, including a comprehensive review literature and a comparative analysis of the Australian laws relating to health and safety rights of employees. It has been observed that even though Sri Lanka has a considerable number of provisions dealing with ensuring the health and safety of the employees at the workplace, there are significant gaps in enforcement and implementation of such laws, which may limit their effectiveness. Thus, this research suggests that it is imperative to introduce necessary amendments to increase the protection of health and safety rights of the employees at the workplace in Sri Lanka.