What is Health and Safety Act ?

The Health and Safety at Work Act lays down wide-ranging duties on employers. Employers
must protect the 'health, safety and welfare' at work of all their employees, as well as others
on their premises, including temps, casual workers, the self-employed, clients, visitors and
the general public.

Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational health and safety are concerned with the identification, evaluation and control
of hazards associated with the workplace. Companies and organizations often have
occupational health and safety programs, the objectives of which are to reduce:

• occupational injuries, which include any harm from a workplace accident (e.g., fracture, cut,
burn), and
• occupational illnesses, which include abnormal conditions caused by exposure to factors
associated with the workplace. Occupational health and safety are often grouped together, but
they are not the same even though they are closely related. It is important to understand both.

One way we can differentiate health and safety is as follows:

• Safety usually is concerned with situations that cause injury and deals with hazards that lead
to severe and sudden outcomes.
• Health usually is concerned with situations that cause illness or disease and deals with
adverse
reactions to exposure over prolonged periods to hazards that are usually less severe, but still
dangerous.

Importance of Occupational Health and Safety

Some of the main reasons for being concerned about occupational health and safety include
the following:

Economics. The economic costs, both direct and indirect, of workplace accidents, injuries and
illnesses are significant. Costs can be associated with the time lost from work, human pain
and suffering, and the subsequent loss of moral and decline in worker efficiency and
productivity.

• Legality. Occupational Health and Safety Acts provide workers with the right to a safe work
environment. In protecting workers, employers must exercise due diligence, i.e., take
reasonable precautions appropriate for the circumstances. The legal penalties that are possible
for violations of health and safety legislation are significant and can include civil lawsuits and
criminal prosecutions.

• Morality. It is generally accepted that employers have a moral responsibility to provide a

safe working environment for their employees. The field of occupational health and safety
has been increasing in importance due to the consequences of occupational injuries and
illnesses, and public expectations have increased for better occupational health and safety.
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 multinational 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.

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.

Other components include 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 should be an 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.