Branton Matondo
MUTARE-National Social Security Authority (NSSA) has raised concern over the sorry state of reporting systems on work related accidents and deaths, a feat that has seen national fatality rates rise.
With global work related accidents statistics sitting at 19 percent, the case of Zimbabwe has reached a worse extent as records indicate a 30 percent rise.
Addressing journalists at a recently held Engineers workshop on occupational hazards and safety at Leopards Rock Hotel Acting NSSA Chief Executive Officer Charles Shava said the major cause for such unfortunate statistics is poor reporting systems
“We are not where we want to be when it comes to work place accidents and carnages. There are very high fatalities because majority of them are not reported because our reporting system is not that good,” said Shava.
According to NSSA, the dominance of the informal sector in Zimbabwe’s national economic structure has led to the rise of unreported fatalities.
Shava added that there are even more fatalities that vanish without being reported in the sector.
“To make matters worse, the informal situation of our economy lacks reporting systems. In fact, the actual number of deaths and work place injuries is far much higher than the statistics we are recording,” he added.
For the past three years, lost time injury rates have decreased from 2.8 to 1.8 percent.
Shava however said there is need to improve though resources are scarce.
“Causes for the decrease are because NSSA is working very hard. Lost time injury rates is a measure we use to assess how we are performing in terms of controlling time that has been lost as a result of injuries. But as you can see, we were at 2.8 and that has been reduced to 1.8 percent, it’s not a position we want as NSSA though it’s an improvement. NSSA is doing very well under harsh circumstances, both on resources and Covid-19. We have been working under very difficult conditions under Covid-19 but our aim is to continue pushing it down so that we meet the standard,” he added.
Bulawayo-based engineer Jacob Muguni at the side lines of the event told this publication that there is need to raise awareness across Zimbabwe to cut the national rate from 30 percent.
“One other issue that has been highlighted is combining Zimbabwe Institute of Engineers (ZIE), the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe (ECZ) and NSSA in fighting the rise of these accidents,” said Muguni.
He added that there is need to train all engineers and responsible personnel to improve personal awareness.
Zvimba Rural District Council Engineer Tapiwa Nhemwa also said there is a lot that needs to be done especially in local government sector to evade work related accidents.
“From a local authority point of view, work related accidents are caused by lack of training or lack of due diligence and necessary working environment. There is lot that needs to be done in the local authorities in terms of providing safety through PPE. There is also need to provide Safety and Health Education departments with training to personnel within local authority systems,” he said.
