Online Reporter
George Maponga, Masvingo Bureau
THE National Social Security Authority (Nssa) has commended the Manhize giant iron and steel making firm, Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) for upholding high occupational health and safety standards that has seen the iron producer recording zero fatalities at its plant in Chirumhanzu since its inception.
Experts and engineers attending the annual Nssa Engineers’ Workshop in Masvingo, which kicked off on Wednesday made an industrial visit to Manhize yesterday to appreciate occupational health and safety standards at the steel-making behemoth.
The second group visited the Lake Mutirikwi mini-hydro power plant about 40 km south east of Masvingo City while the last group toured a Delta plant in the Masvingo industrial area.
The Nssa three-day workshop that ends tomorrow is being held under the theme: “Occupational Safety and Health: Technology and the future for work.”
However, it was the tour of the world-acclaimed Dinson’s Manhize steel plant that was an eye opener for experts and engineers attending the Nssa workshop.
Speaking after the tour, Nssa acting general manager Dr Charles Shava paid tribute to DISCO for high occupational, safety and health standards at its Manhize plant.
“We had a tour of the iron and steel plant at Manhize while another group went to Lake Mutirikwi (for a tour of the hydro power plant) and the last group went to Delta plant in Masvingo City,” he said.
“But I think the tour of Manhize was an eye opener for us because here I think we are talking about (arguably) the largest steelworks plant in Africa, it’s a massive investment, it is a very big project but so far they have done well in terms of occupational safety and health because for the past three to four years they have been in operation, there have not recorded any fatalities at the workplace,”said Dr Shava.
“They have had only incidents where some workers have suffered some minor injuries but I think overall they have done very well because we are talking about a very big plant.”
Dr Shava said Nssa’s Midlands team would work closely with DISCO to address some of the few challenges pertaining to the issue of occupational safety and health, which were identified during the engineers and experts tour of Manhize.
“We are happy that they (DISCO) have a very good medical team on the ground, they are on top of the game and are able to deal with the issue of diseases,” added Dr Shava.
According to the Nssa acting general manager, the tour of Manhize by a team of engineers and experts had given them an excellent insight into the interrelationship between engineering and safety.
“At Manhize we realised that they are producing about 50MW of electricity using coal but with very, very limited if not negligible pollution, the coal is emitting very little pollutants in the air and it was a very good insight for our team, it is a very good operation, which they are running at Manhize.”
The tour of DISCO’s plant comprised a high powered delegation that also included Nssa board members including the board chair Dr Emmanuel Fundira.
Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare, Edgar Moyo, officially opened the workshop on Wednesday where he lamented the high number of workplace deaths and injuries, which in 2024 averaged 300 and 5 000 respectively.
The minister disclosed that the Second Republic was working on an occupational, safety and health law that seeks to stem workplace deaths and injuries in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, according to Nssa, loses around US$15 million annually from workplace injuries, diseases and deaths, which was too high.
