Zimpapers Logo

Minister Mupfumira

Herald Reporters
At least 59 workers were killed at workplaces last year, while 5 360 were seriously injured, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira has said.

Speaking at an Occupational Safety and Health workshop in Harare yesterday, Minister Mupfumira revealed that five workers had already died at their workplaces in the first two months of this year, while 828 had been injured.

“In 2015, there were 5 380 serious injuries, of which 54 were fatal,” she said.

“2014 saw 5 491 workers seriously injured at work, resulting in 98 of them dying.”

Minister Mupfumira said in some cases, work-associated tragedies were a result of ignorance by both employers and employees.

“In some cases, employers are to blame for promoting or spearheading poor corporate culture, which does not promote accident preventive measures,” she said.

“The employees on the other hand condone and copy bad behaviour which endangers them.”

Minister Mupfumira challenged engineers to be on the forefront of utilising data to reinforce an occupational safety and health accident preventive culture in working environments. She said engineers should help reduce workplace accidents.

“Certainly, engineers have the power vested in them by the law to prevent accidents and ill health in the work place,” said Minister Mupfumira.

“They are custodians of safety, hence their culture can be easily copied by users of their technology.”