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Fairness Moyana in Victoria Falls

THE 61st edition of the National Conference on Safety and Health at Work (SHAW) kicked off here yesterday amid calls for stakeholders to embrace modern innovation including Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance employee safety and standards in the workplace.

The conference runs up to Friday and is expected to be officiated by Vice-President Kembo Mohadi today.

Several companies in Zimbabwe are embracing AI technologies in doing business as part of innovative solutions to enhance production efficiencies and ease costs. Various economic sectors such as agriculture, where AI-powered systems can optimise farming practices by analysing soil data, weather patterns, and crop characteristics, leading to increased yields and sustainable farming, have also begun integrating AI resulting in numerous benefits.

The same has been witnessed in the manufacturing sector where the adoption of new technologies is expected to result in enhanced production efficiency and safety.

Vice-President Kembo Mohadi

Experts, however, caution that despite the potential benefits, the country faces challenges in AI adoption, such as limited access to advanced technologies, inadequate infrastructure, and a shortage of skilled AI professionals.

Speaking during panel discussions on the use of technologies in the workplace and occupational safety, a Zimplats executive, Mr Tinashe Muzira, said the company had since embraced technology to minimise injuries or loss of life.

“My perspective is that certainly if workers are going into an environment that is unsafe and causes them to worry, that is what this technology will do, it will take away anxiety.

“But we also know that these new technologies also require a lot of mental capacity in terms of sensing, perception, attention, memory, and decision-making.

“What we have also done is to ensure that we give our employees capacity,” said Mr Muzira.

“Recently we introduced driverless dump trucks and we took our operators through rigorous months of training to upgrade their thinking in mental capacity to match the demands of work.”

Mr Muzira said while fears over the use of new technologies in the workplace were still rife, it was important to educate employees on its benefits.

“When it comes to managing the human element to ensure the success of the technology, we know that we can have workers or managers who can decide to make that inoperable,” he said.

“That is where awareness comes in for everyone to understand the benefits of technology. We want to promote its use and we are saying technology is there to save lives, that is, to prevent loss and ensure that everyone comes to work and goes back home without losing a limb.”

On data safety, one of the panellists, Mr Bhekithemba Moyo, an executive from Tongaat Hullets, said data protection in emerging technologies was important and urged employees to undergo capacity training.

“All data has to be protected against theft and corruption. As Tongaat, we have invested significantly in data protection. Our data servers are off-site and insured,” he said.

                              National Social Security Authority

“If one set of data is corrupted today, we can still retrieve it through a backup within a short space of time. We have a specific budget for our management system and like all resources, they are all shared accordingly with safety and health needs having a specific budget for that.

“We have employees who are trained to ensure that they interact well with new technologies so that they are able to manage those. They are not discriminated against but are equipped accordingly so that they can manage it,” said Mr Moyo.

“We also have a robust way of introducing any new technology or structural change to ensure that the new introductions are well embedded, accepted, and implemented properly.”

This year’s conference is running under the theme: “Promoting an occupational safety and health (OSH) culture through vision zero.” It seeks to facilitate the sharing of experiences, best practices, and expert insights on establishing safe and healthy work environments.

The conference will also serve to provide a platform for networking and collaboration among occupational safety and health professionals, researchers, and policymakers from diverse backgrounds and industries.

Discussions on the emerging trends, technologies, and challenges in OSH management are also expected to be tabled during the three-day session.

The conference is organised by the National Social Security Authority (Nssa) in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Occupational Safety and Health Council.