Judith Phiri [email protected]
Zimbabwe’s leading energy company, Zuva Petroleum (Private) Limited has underscored the importance of strong corporate governance, technological innovation and a proactive safety culture in transforming occupational safety and health (OSH) standards.
This comes as more companies highlight the role of digital solutions in preventing workplace accidents and managing catastrophic industrial risks.
Speaking at the 63rd National Conference on Safety and Health at Work (SHAW) 2026 in Victoria Falls, ZUVA Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality (SHEQ) Officer, Mr Garidzanai Zawayira emphasised that effective digital safety systems must be supported by clearly defined standards, accountability and sustained leadership commitment to deliver meaningful improvements in workplace safety.
“Governance before gadgets is important. The tools are standard. What made them work was the governance around them: standards, accountability, sustained leadership attention. Without governance, any digital system generates tick-box data.
“Also, culture enables technology. Digital tools amplify the culture they are placed in. In a compliance culture, they amplify compliance. The culture of ‘gaps are good’ must come first – the tools then become powerful,” he said.
He said one of the six key lessons from their occupational safety and health transformation journey, was context of operation as generic occupational, safety and health tools do not resonate in a terminal.
Mr Zawayira said on operation, specific Sampled Values (SV) protocols for hot work in classified areas, energy isolation on protocols for hot work in classified areas, energy isolation on Safety Essential Components (SCEs), and confined space in petroleum vessels specificity was critical.
He added: “Process safety is not equal to personal safety, as Bowtie experience moved us beyond slip-trip-fall prevention into understanding catastrophic process safety risk. Both are necessary.”
Mr Zawayira said innovation is key and the gap between ISO 45001 certification and front-line safety assurance is real, while the digital enablers helped Zuva close it.
ISO 45001 is an internationally recognised standard for occupational health and safety management systems, designed to help organisations prevent work-related injuries and ill health while continuously improving workplace safety.
He said digital occupational safety and health was replicable and if they can achieve a globally-recognised while digital occupational safety and health programme in their context was key to vision zero.
Mr Zawayira called for locally implemented digital safety programmes to achieve international recognition, demonstrating that technological transformation in occupational health and safety is achievable within Zimbabwe’s operating environment.
The importance of adopting a zero-harm mindset, prevention of workplace fatalities and serious industrial incidents is said to require deliberate leadership decisions rather than policy statements alone.
The lessons presented by Zuva offer insights for Zimbabwe’s energy, mining, manufacturing and other industrial sectors as businesses seek to strengthen operational efficiency, manage occupational risks and align workplace safety practices with international standards.
The three-day event ran under the theme: theme “Vision Zero: Safety. Health. Wellbeing”, and was coordinated by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA).
It aimed to strengthen occupational safety and health leadership, governance, and systems in advancing the Vision Zero agenda across all economic sectors in Zimbabwe.
The conference was also key to driving innovation, collaboration, and a culture of wellbeing in occupational safety and health through the adoption of digital technologies and sharing of best practices.
It created a platform for networking and collaboration among occupational safety and health professionals, researchers, and academia, policymakers to advance occupational safety and health in Zimbabwe.
