By Michael Oche
Concerned over the increasing number of deaths in workplaces, the African Regional office of International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa ), has urged African governments to take measures that will promote health and safety in workplaces.
In a statement to commemorate the 2023 International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD), ITUC-Africa General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwah urged governments to regularly review and ensure that sanction mechanisms are effective against slack and willful health and safety negligence at the workplaces and communities.
Africa is one of the regions with relatively significant ratification of the two ILO Conventions on Safety and Health, with 22 countries having ratified C155 and 15 countries having ratified C187.
But ITUC-Africa said African governments must equally prioritise effective application and enforcement of the provisions of the conventions.
General Secretary Kwasi Adu-Amankwah also called on employer organisations to collaborate with workers and trade unions, to adopt the requisite systems to reduce workplace accidents and deaths with full recognition of workers’ rights to a safe and healthy workplace.
The statement reads in part: “On April 24, 2023, the world observed ten years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse. The Rana Plaza incident remains one of the most devastating workplace accidents of our time, with over 1000 deaths and many more injuries, impacting the livelihoods of and causing profound mental health trauma to several families and people.
“Several years on, the statistics on workplace injuries and deaths worldwide have increased, despite legislative and policy instruments to support the reduction of fatalities and strengthen safety and health at the workplace.
“In Africa, several countries have recorded workplace deaths and injuries in various sectors, particularly in the extractive and mining sectors, in recent years. Whilst the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) of South Africa reports a significant reduction in deaths in the Mining Sector, there are records of substantial increases in several countries such as Burkina Faso, Congo and others in the same sector. In Nigeria, the death tolls in the agriculture and artisanal mining sectors, especially in the rural areas caused by the violent actions of extremists and criminal herdsmen, are growing in their hundreds.
“These avoidable deaths are exacerbating miseries and hardships in homes and communities and fracturing hope. Therefore, we call on our governments, employers, and our members to recommit to genuine, inclusive and pragmatic efforts to guarantee and promote health and safety practices and milieu.”
The regional workers’ organisation urged African governments to consciously take steps to review existing workplace accident compensation regimes in ways that they can assuage the pain and losses suffered by the affected workers and members of their families.
The General Secretary said ITUC-Africa welcomes the upgrade of ILO Conventions 155 and 187 on Safety and Health as ILO Fundamental Conventions in 2022, adding that besides the upgrade of these two Occupational Health and Safety Conventions as fundamental conventions being a milestone achievement, it also represents a stepping stone for all countries to put in place the necessary framework to strengthen and reinforce national and workplaces policies and practices on Occupational Health and Safety.
He said further, “we call on workers and trade unions to remain vigilant and active in reducing and ultimately eliminating workplace accidents. We urge them to continue collaborating with all relevant stakeholders to advance a safe and healthy working environment at all levels.”
