adminZimbabwean companies have been facing serious challenges in terms of liquidity since the turn of the millennium and most of them have scaled down operations while others have shut down completely. Those that have remained operational are hamstrung by working capital constraints.
However, this does not preclude them from ensuring that their premises are safe for workers to operate in.
Most workplaces are death traps with employers more concerned about the financial position of their businesses and in most cases putting the lives of their employees at risk.
NSSA at the weekend revealed that the country in 2012 recorded 5 141 serious occupational injuries which resulted in 103 fatalities, the worst figure since 2008. The statistics indicate that as compared with all the years since dollarisation, 2012 injury statistics are the worst.
“In 2011, 4 158 workers were seriously injured with 75 fatalities; in 2010, 4 410 workers were seriously injured resulting in 90 deaths while in 2009 there were 3 122 serious occupational injuries with 64 fatalities,” said NSSA director of occupational safety and health, Mr Rodgers Dhliwayo.
He said causes of occupational injuries could be classified into two categories, the root and immediate causes.
“Root causes are that employers are not investing in occupational safety and health blaming the dearth of capital. The causes include the fact that employers have not adopted a systems approach to managing occupational safety and health and in short they do not care much about the safety and health of their workers,” said Mr Dhliwayo.
Immediate causes ranged from ignorance, recalcitrance, stubbornness, short cutting procedures and incompetence. This is unacceptable and we urge employers to prevent accidents at work by adopting safety, health and environmental management systems.
If they do not have the capacity to do so on their own, they should approach NSSA for help as the authority says it renders assistance at no cost. Employers should also employ competent personnel to do their work to reduce cases of workplace accidents.
They should also take advantage of the service offered by NSSA by sending identified employees to the authority to train on the Occupational, Safety, Health and Environmental Management Course (OSHEMAC). We also strongly urge employers to allow their professionals to attend Occupational Safety Health (OSH) conferences and workshops organised by NSSA.
In the same vein, we call on the authority to increase the frequency of its inspections at various companies as most of them have hazardous environments which are a recipe for disaster.
Heavy penalties should be imposed on those that flout the regulations. Law enforcement agents should also expedite cases where employers are reported for grossly flouting the OSH law and causing accidents. Workers should demand to be trained on the safety and health of the work they do because it is their right.
They should also be made aware that they have a right to refuse to do any hazardous or dangerous work which has not been rendered safe.
Most employers take advantage of workers’ ignorance of their rights when it comes to health and safety and force them to do hazardous jobs. This must stop and authorities should descend heavily on companies that expose workers to danger. Government should also review penalties for companies caught flagrantly flouting health and safety regulations. Employers need to prioritise the health and safety of their workers and not put the bottom line ahead of everything else.
Health and safety should form one of the key aspects of any company’s vision.
Online Reporter