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Nesia Mhaka and Charmaine Brown
Government will protect workers through enacting responsive legislation and seeking to improve safety and health standards in the workplace, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza has said.

In a speech read on her behalf by a director in her ministry, Mr Clifford Matorera, during World Day for Safety and Health commemorations in Harare on Friday, Dr Nzenza said Government would continue working with various departments to improve the health and safety standards in the country.

“My ministry and indeed the Government of Zimbabwe is committed to ensuring that workers are protected through responsive legislative provisions,” she said.

“We are eager to play our part in the global agenda which seeks to continuously improve safety and health standards in the workplace.

“The ministry, in conjunction with National Social Security Authority (NSSA), will continue to embrace and develop comprehensive strategies for promoting continuous improvement in our national safety and health standards.”

Dr Nzenza added that the prevailing status of occupational safety and health in the country from 2015 to 2018 had resulted in a high number of injuries and fatalities.

“The reflection on the prevailing status of occupational safety and health in our country from 2015 up to this year recorded 22 847 serious injuries, 248 fatalities and nine deaths this year alone,” she said.

Dr Nzenza said Zimbabwe’s Transitional Stabilisation Programme also needed to embrace the occupational of safety and health in the stimulation of growth and employment creation.

“Economic stabilisation and stimulation of growth can be adequately achieved when we prioritise the health and safety of those who make a significant contribution, our most valued workers,” she added.

The minister encouraged senior management to take an active role that guaranteed workers’ safety to reduce injuries and fatalities at workplaces.