Statement by Dr. Mary Kawar, Director of ILO Country Office for United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda During The Occasion of Marking The World Day for Safety and Health at Work

Hon. Jenista Mhagama (MP) – Minister, PMO, Labour, Employment, youth, Parliament affairs and peole with Disabilities

Hon. Anthony Mavunde (MP)– Deputy Minister, PMO, Labour, Employment, youth, Parliament affairs and peole with Disabilities

Mr. Eric Shitindi Permanent Secretary, PMO, Labour, Employment, youth, Parliament affairs and peole with Disabilities

Mr. Mecky Sadick –Regiona Commissioner, Kilimanjaro Region.

Mama Hadija Mwenda- Chief Executive, OSHA

Dr Aggrey Mlimuka, -Executive Director , ATE

Dr. Yahya K. Msigwa, Secretary General, TUCTA

Workers and Employers.

Media corps,

Protocol observed

The Guest of honour, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Today, the ILO joins governments, employers and workers and their organizations, and all who are striving to ensure safety and health culture at workplaces, in this observance of World Day for Safety and Health at Work focussing on “Optimize the collection and use of OSH Data: A contribution to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 8”.

As we are approaching the ILO’s centenary celebrations due 2019, protecting the life and health of all workers is a keystone of the ILO’s broader goal of decent work, noting that occupational safety and health is a human right and an integral part of a people-centred agenda for development.

It is a day upon which we recommit to action to prevent workplace illness and injuries, ensuring that work sustains and supports decent lives.

Despite global efforts to address OSH concerns, it is sad to note that every year over 2.3 million women and men die at work from an occupational injury or disease meaning that one worker dies from a work-related accident or disease every 15 seconds.

Here in Tanzania these incidences are not a new phenomenon: In 2013 a 16 storey building collapsed in Dar es Salaam killing 36 workers and left several injured, early this year 15 miners were trapped in rubble 38 meters underground but cheated death following collapsing of a shaft in Geita, and recently a mining pit collapsed in Sikonge, Tabora, from which a number of miners perished.

Sustainable Development Goal 8, among the 17goals, provides for the promotion of “inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” and its Target 8.8 focuses on the “protection of labour rights and promotion of safe and secure working environments for all workers.All countries are obliged to report on Frequency rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries.

Further, multiple ILO OSH conventions also require ratifying member States to establish mechanisms to collect and utilize reliable OSH data for prevention purposes.as reliable data are indispensable for the detection of new hazards the development of preventive measures, as well as the implementation of policies, and programmes.

The provision of social protection for the most vulnerable and needy is a priority of the Tanzania’s Five year Development Plan, as well as the current ILO’s Decent Work Country Programme. Optimization of collection and use of data and reducing the number of fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents and diseases is just one response to improving the working conditions.

Although significant progress has been made in enhancing data collection and use both at national and international levels, these efforts are still insufficient. Serious inadequacy and lack of accuracy in data collection continue to negatively impact the promotion of safe and secure working environment.

The ILO believes that a good national OSH system is critical for the effective implementation of national policies and programmes on OSH, and in particular for the sound collection and use of OSH data.

Such a system should include:

• Establishment of a National System for Recording and Notification ofOccupational Accidents and Diseases should be established and strengthened to provide comprehensive and reliable data on theincidence of occupational accidents and diseases
• National Occupational and Health authorities to workin consultation with the employers’ and workers’ organizations to establish and periodically reviewrequirements and procedures for the reporting,recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases.They shouldalso periodically review the national policy, aiming at preventing accidents and injuries
  

• A harmonized national classification system of occupational accidentsand diseases should be established,implemented, in accordance to the ILO Code of Practice on Recording and Notification of Occupational Accidents and Diseases

Following are some of the recognized challenges associated with OSH data collection:

• Exclusion of OSH datafrom notification and recording requirements for some sectors e.g. agriculture, domestic work, the informal economy.Such gaps should be filled in to avoid under-reporting and ineffectiveness

• Lack of knowledge by employers, workers, of the possibility/obligation tonotify and record occupational accidents and diseases andtime required in the whole process. Responsible authorities, should therefore collaborate to eliminate or minimize such barriers.

• Limiting of dataconsistency as responsibilities for OSH may bedivided among multiple authorities. Some may lack the authority or ability to share or aggregate data across themselves.

• Inconsistencies among the collected data by different authorities and source can further delay the aggregation of collected data and unreliable reporting. This calls for strong collaboration among all parties concerned.

Despite all these challenges, there are a number of developments in Tanzania to date worth mentioning and commending:

- The OSH policy and the subsidiary legislations are in vogue and being reviewed. This will not only enhance performance of OSH at enterprise level but also to guide activities across different sectors of the economy.

- Registration of workplaces is an ongoing excercise

- A National System for Recording and Notification of Occupational Accidents and Diseases is already in place and is being promoted for employers and workers to be aware and comply accordingly

- Establishment of the Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) which works closely with OSHA on comparability of data

We wish to call upon the government to continue strengthening its inspection and enforcement systems which will ensure improved adherence to the regulatory framework and international norms.

We also remind employers that “reliable and quality OSH data is good business”. It remains well within their responsibilities of ensuring that data recording and reporting remains a priority and their production processes should be safe and risk-free.

The workers should fully participate in building a culture of prevention on occupational safety and health at their respective workplaces by better observing laws, rules and regulations that would lower accident rates, and fewer work-related health problems.

We commend Tanzania, under the able leadership of H.E. Dr. John Pombe Magufuli for not only in its fuller participation in the ILO’s standard-setting exercises but also in being at the forefront in the ratification and implementation of some of the ILO conventions. We note with pleasure the government’s commitment to ratify ILO Conventions on occupational safety and health numbers 155, 161, 167 and 187, amongst others, which, we believe, will add impetus to the national endeavour to make the workplace safer and more decent.

The ILO welcomes the opportunity to work with the Government, social partners and other stakeholders to face this OSH data challenge and meet their commitment on the implementation of the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and their obligations under ILO conventions.
Let’s collect and use reliable data to protect the workers, and save lives.

I wish you a happy safety and health day at work.

Thank you for your attention.