Zimpapers Logo

AT least 45 people have died in accidents at the workplace while 2,700 have been seriously injured since January this year, up from 35 deaths and 2,200 injuries recorded during the same period in 2013, an official said yesterday.
National Social Security Authority occupational safety and health director Rodgers Dhliwayo told New Ziana that the increase in workplace accidents was because employers were not prioritising safety of workers as they optimised on profits.

Dhliwayo was speaking on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe conference on safety, health and environmental practitioners
“So far we have about 45 fatalities in industries up to about end of May this year only with over 2,700 seriously injured. By this time last year we had about 35 fatalities and with injuries of about 2,200. So certainly the figures have gone up,” he said.

He attributed the high number of occupational accidents to negligence by employers who were paying lip service to conditions of service for workers.
“What we find quite missing is a positive attitude from employers. They are not investing in occupational safety. Because of the liquidity crunch in the country, employers are not investing in occupational safety,” he said.

Dhliwayo said recruitment of untrained contract workers who were easy to fire and less costly to the employer was also causing accidents.
“Right now the majority of people working in industries are contract workers. They are not trained yet they deal with sophisticated equipment.

“A lot of these accidents actually involve these contract workers, so it is a response of employers to economic challenges that we have,” he said. – New Ziana