How Egypt’s labor law protect workers from hazardous chemicals

CAIRO – 1 August 2022: Egypt has made amendments to the law over the past period to guarantee protection for laborers in different fields.

One of these controls in the Egyptian Labor Law are dedicated to protect workers from some risks, like exposure to dangerous chemicals.

The law stipulates that the facility and its branches are obligated to provide means of protection against chemical risks resulting from dealing with solid, liquid and gaseous chemicals, taking into account the following:

(a) Not to exceed the maximum permissible concentration of chemicals and carcinogenic substances to which workers are exposed.

(B) The stock of hazardous chemicals shall not exceed the threshold quantities for each of them.

(C) Provide the necessary precautions to protect the facility and workers when transporting, storing, handling and using hazardous chemicals and disposing of their waste.

(D) Maintaining a record of the hazardous chemicals in circulation, including all data related to each substance, and a record of the balance of the work environment and the exposure of workers to the dangers of chemicals.

(e) Laying out identification cards for all chemicals circulating in the work, indicating their scientific and commercial name, chemical composition, degree of danger, safety precautions and emergency procedures related to them, and the facility must obtain the data mentioned in these materials from its supplier upon import.

(f) Training workers on the methods of dealing with dangerous chemicals and carcinogens, educating them and making them aware of their dangers, and the methods of safety and prevention of such risks.

The draft labor law submitted by the government to the Egyptian House of Representatives provides for the establishment of specialized labor courts to adjudicate labor disputes.

The new draft law obligates the employer to write the work contract between him and the worker in Arabic, where the employer keeps one copy, another for the worker, a third at the Social Insurance Office, and a fourth at the competent administrative authority, instead of making only three copies of the contract in the old law.

New amendments

In January, the Egyptian Senate (the Upper House of the Parliament), in principle, approved the new amendments to the labor law.

As per the new amendments, the public servant shall not be dismissed wrongfully. The Senators highlighted the importance of the labor bill in protecting the rights of the worker and the employer alike.

The National Wages Council revealed on December 21, 2021, that as of January 1, 2022, the minimum wage will be applied for the private sector workers.

Members of the National Wages Council agreed that the decision of the National Wages Council to set the minimum wage for workers in the private sector at LE 2,400 will be mandatory for private sector establishments as of January 2022, after stumbling facilities due to the economic pressures imposed by the Corona pandemic were granted a space of flexibility for progress The Council requests an exception from the application of the minimum wage until its economic conditions improve.

Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan has said the amended draft of the labor law is compatible with all international agreements Egypt had signed.