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Yoliswa Dube
A MAN was crushed to death by a train while repairing a railway line because he neglected to erect a “MEN AT WORK” sign.
He was not visible enough for the engine man to see him in good time.Probably Bongani Moyo’s employer didn’t provide him with the sign but it’s too late now — his son has lost a father and his family a bread winner as a result of an accident that could have been prevented.

Countless accidents continue to happen at different workplaces across the country, many of which can be prevented.

It’s a combination of two things. The flouting of labour laws and the failure by workers to exercise caution; lives are lost unnecessarily as a result.

“My husband died in a train accident a few weeks ago and I still can’t come to terms with his death because it was so sudden. I’ve no idea what went wrong, he went to work and didn’t come back. I feel like he died in an unfair manner,” said Mercy Moyo, Bongani’s widow.

The wound left in her heart, she said, cannot be healed by any manner of compensation.

“The company my husband worked for has been very supportive but nothing they will do can bring him back. The void left by my husbands’ death can never be filled and my children will now have to grow up fatherless,” said Moyo holding back tears.

She said she has had to deal with explaining the death to her young children who do not understand why their father is not coming back home from work.

Moyo and her family are victims of poor safety practices at the workplace and poor labour laws.

In Zimbabwe, occupational safety and health policies that are applicable to all employers and employees across sectors are the Labour Act and the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) (Accident Prevention) (Workers Compensation Scheme).

The Labour Relations (HIV and Aids) regulations which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of HIV/Aids status is among other important regulations in the country.

Unfortunately, compliance remains a contentious issue among a significant number of employers.

“There are measures in place meant to minimise injuries at the workplace but a lot of employers are not complying with regulations,” said an occupational safety and health practitioner who cannot be named for professional reasons.

He said there was a need to enact laws that protect workers as the country’s legislature was a major let down.

“The policies are there, a lot of them, but they’re just policies. This is the reason why many employers evade the regulations. It’s because these are policies and not laws.

“What the country needs is for some of these policies to be passed into law so that employees can take their employers to task.

“Workers should also know their rights and refuse to work under unsafe conditions,” he said.

Last year, NSSA crafted the Zimbabwe National Occupational Safety and Health policy which encourages self-regulation by employers through the adoption of a systems approach to managing safety and health at work.

The policy urges greater efforts to improve occupational safety and health through various approaches, chief of which is the application of occupational safety and health management systems.

Accidents at work are a recognised cost to business, workers and society, it points out.

It stresses the need for concerted efforts by the government, employers and labour to promote and maintain the highest degree of occupational safety and health at all workplaces.

The policy states: “Every worker has the right to fair and safe labour practices, to know the occupational safety and health risks that he or she is likely to be exposed to and their effects, to be consulted in the development of mitigating mechanisms for identified occupational safety and health risks and to refuse to undertake any work that has not been rendered safe.”

However, factory worker Anthony Sibanda said: “The truth of the matter is that our employers don’t take our safety seriously. We go to work and do what’s required because we need the money. You can’t complain because your employer will replace you in no time.”

He said a significant number of workers exposed themselves to danger in the workplace because they had no option.

“At the end of the day, what you want is the job and the money it’ll bring. Things are tough out there so you can’t really be making noise over protective gear and so forth,” said Sibanda.

While the Labour Act in Zimbabwe applies to all employees, it has specific provisions that relate to women.

The Act empowers the minister to make regulations to provide special conditions applicable to females and the restriction of the employment of pregnant women in specified hours and the rights and privileges of mothers with suckling infants.

What exists are provisions in the Act that entitle breast-feeding mothers to take one hour a day to breastfeed their babies up to a maximum of six months after giving birth.

The Act does not provide direct protection to women who may be pregnant when it comes to performance of certain tasks which endanger the health of the mother or unborn child.

Workplaces in the country have been described as “dangerous” following the death of 98 workers last year. More than 5,000 people were injured in work related accidents in 2014.

NSSA Director of Occupational Safety and Health Rogers Dhliwayo said workplaces in Zimbabwe are generally hazardous.

Statistics released by the agency show a slight decrease of three percent from injuries recorded in 2013. NSSA revealed that 5,491 people were injured at the workplace in 2014 compared to 5,666 in 2013.

Dhliwayo attributed the high injury rates to a number of factors among them companies’ failure to value occupational safety.

“The high incidence of occupational injury can be attributed to, among others, low investment in occupational safety and health, non-compliance with rules and regulations and low levels of awareness on OSH issues,” said Dhliwayo.

He said there was a procedure to be followed once a worker is injured at the workplace.

“The employer reports the accident to our Inspector of Factories using the fastest means available. He or she must activate the emergency preparedness and response procedure to limit the impact of the injury and surrender the injured worker to medical practitioners soonest,” he explained.

Dhliwayo said the Inspector of Factories should immediately carry out an accident investigation to find the cause and prevent a recurrence of similar accidents.

The Inspector, said Dhliwayo, may close operations based on the preliminary results of the investigation or prosecute the employer for causing the accident at the conclusion of the investigation. In total, Zimbabwe has recorded 24,866 work-related accidents which resulted in the death of 446 people over the past five years.

 

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It stresses the need for concerted efforts by the government, employers and labour to promote and maintain the highest degree of occupational safety and health at all workplaces.

The policy states: “Every worker has the right to fair and safe labour practices, to know the occupational safety and health risks that he or she is likely to be exposed to and their effects, to be consulted in the development of mitigating mechanisms for identified occupational safety and health risks and to refuse to undertake any work that has not been rendered safe.”

However, factory worker Anthony Sibanda said: “The truth of the matter is that our employers don’t take our safety seriously. We go to work and do what’s required because we need the money. You can’t complain because your employer will replace you in no time.”

He said a significant number of workers exposed themselves to danger in the workplace because they had no option.

“At the end of the day, what you want is the job and the money it’ll bring. Things are tough out there so you can’t really be making noise over protective gear and so forth,” said Sibanda.

While the Labour Act in Zimbabwe applies to all employees, it has specific provisions that relate to women. The Act empowers the minister to make regulations to provide special conditions applicable to females and the restriction of the employment of pregnant women in specified hours and the rights and privileges of mothers with suckling infants.

What exists are provisions in the Act that entitle breast-feeding mothers to take one hour a day to breastfeed their babies up to a maximum of six months after giving birth.

The Act does not provide direct protection to women who may be pregnant when it comes to performance of certain tasks which endanger the health of the mother or unborn child.

Workplaces in the country have been described as “dangerous” following the death of 98 workers last year. More than 5,000 people were injured in work-related accidents in 2014.

NSSA Director of Occupational Safety and Health Rogers Dhliwayo said workplaces in Zimbabwe are generally hazardous. Statistics released by the agency show a slight decrease of three percent from injuries recorded in 2013. NSSA revealed that 5,491 people were injured at the workplace in 2014 compared to 5,666 in 2013. Dhliwayo attributed the high injury rates to a number of factors among them companies’ failure to value occupational safety.

“The high incidence of occupational injury can be attributed to, among others, low investment in occupational safety and health, non-compliance with rules and regulations and low levels of awareness on OSH issues,” said Dhliwayo.

He said there was a procedure to be followed once a worker is injured at the workplace.

“The employer reports the accident to our Inspector of Factories using the fastest means available. He or she must activate the emergency preparedness and response procedure to limit the impact of the injury and surrender the injured worker to medical practitioners soonest,” he explained.

Dhliwayo said the Inspector of Factories should immediately carry out an accident investigation to find the cause and prevent a recurrence of similar accidents.

The Inspector, said Dhliwayo, may close operations based on the preliminary results of the investigation or prosecute the employer for causing the accident at the conclusion of the investigation. In total, Zimbabwe has recorded 24,866 work-related accidents which resulted in the death of 446 people over the past five years.