Every employer is obliged by law to provide a safe and healthy working environment, as far as possible and to ensure that the work process does not adversely affect the safety and health of workers.
The laws imposing this obligation are the Factories and Works Act (Chapter 14:08), the Pneumoconiosis Act (Chapter 15:08), the Radiation Protection Act (Chapter15:15), the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27), the Mining (Management and Safety) Regulations S.I. 109 of 1990 and the Social Security (Accident Prevention and Workers’ Compensation Scheme) Regulations S.I. 68 of 1990.
A practical definition of Occupational Safety and Health derived from international standards is: Conditions and factors that affect, or could affect, the safety and health of employees or other workers, including temporary workers and contractor personnel, visitors or any other person in the workplace.
Occupational Safety alone is defined simply as: Freedom from unacceptable risk of harm at work.
A modern definition of Occupational Health adopted by the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation is: “The promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations – total health of all at work.”
Occupational safety and health is about the inter-relations between work, the environment in which the work is undertaken and the worker. Work affects health and health affects work.
Major multi-national and some indigenous companies have realised the importance of occupational safety and health. They take pride in their safety and health systems, which they see as beneficial to the company.
Smaller organisations also need to establish safety and health management systems. NSSA is able to assist with the process to achieve this.
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The components of a modern occupational safety and health management system include a policy signed by the highest authority in the organisation, a reporting structure, objectives and targets at every level of the organisation, a budget, programmes to achieve the objectives and targets, procedures on how to implement the programmes and an emergency preparedness and response plan.
The aim is to eliminate, control and/or manage safety and health risks arising from the business the organisation is created to do and to improve the quality of life of its workers, customers and the community.
Factors to consider for improving occupational safety and health include: Appreciation of the safety and health risks inherent in the organisation’s business.
The type of occupational safety and health management system to adopt. Zimbabwe as a nation adopted the OHSAS18001 standard for occupational safety and health management. Any other OSH system must be in addition to this and not replace it. Zimbabwe also adopted the ISO 14001 standard for environmental management. More often than not, OSH and the environment are managed together.
Organisational structure for role allocation. A qualified person responsible for OSH must be appointed and should have direct access to the site manager or the highest authority of the organisation, as the case may be. In sizeable organisations, a board committee or a member of the board must be appointed to report on the performance of OSH.
A register or inventory of all relevant laws.
In coming up with an organisation’s policy on OSH, workers must be consulted and should be educated on the system to improve social dialogue. Keeping a record of these consultations is helpful to the organisation and auditors.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme, PaMhepo neNssa/Emoyeni le NSSA, discussing social security issues at 6.50 pm every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe. Readers can e mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0735 041 278. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 706523 5.
