The accident which killed three people and injured one when a tobacco curing boiler tank they were working on exploded at Hwata Farm in Mt Hampden on Friday would not have happened had safety measures been put in place.
NewsDay Editorial
Phineas Hwata of Lot M Homefield Road, himself a successful businessman among many others in the country, appears to have employed semi-skilled personnel to man the boiler because if they were trained boilermakers, this disaster could have been avoided.
Zimbabweans should not be alarmed by suggestions that the faulty boiler could be to blame. All that was needed was to put precautionary measures in place to avoid unnecessary loss of life.
The “makeshift” boiler was reported to have been installed by farm hands on Thursday.
Most boilers have multiple safety switches that must be triggered before any gas/steam is used.
And for a furnace to allow that much gas through, one would have to evade many of the safety features.
Workers at the scene told journalists the boiler had no gauge to monitor pressure rise and fluctuations. The result was the deadly explosion and pieces of human flesh that could be seen all over the site.
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Sadly this accident came hardly a week after another explosion in Chitungwiza claimed the lives of five individuals – again unnecessarily.
Unfortunately, workplace accidents have been on the rise over the last few months. Last December it was disclosed that workplace accidents had increased by 20% to 3 258 from 2 605 during the same period in 2011. The figures show that between August 2011 and 2012, the number of fatalities also went up by 20% during the period under review.
The total number of serious accidents as at August 2011 was 2 605, with 50 fatalities, but by August 2012 the total number of reported accidents had risen to 3 258, with 63 fatalities.
This continued upward trend in workplace accident statistics is unacceptable, especially in view of the context of an economy operating at approximately half of its capacity. There is no doubt that safety performance in almost all the sectors of the economy remains every Zimbabwean’s headache.
Those responsible should be held to account. Government should move fast to penalise culprits – either by charging them with culpable homicide or murder. Why maximise profits at the expense of people’s lives?
Equip and empower the workers with the knowledge required to operate such machinery.
If this is allowed to go on like this, then what will happen when all of the country’s economic sectors are operating at full throttle?
