Govt warns factories abrogating safety measures

Wed, 31 May 2017 11:21:16 +0000

By CHINTU MALAMBO

 EMPLOYERS abrogating safety measures will face the law, warns Labour Commissioner Chanda Kaziya.

Mr Kaziya said all employers running factories were expected to comply with the Factories Act CAP 441.

He said that the Ministry of Labour was aware that there were employers that did not provide proper safety measures for their employees, thereby subjecting them to risky work conditions.

“We expect that all employers are in compliance with the Factories Act and that includes providing safety measures for employees.

“Our warning to employers that have been abrogating the safety of their employees is that we will not negotiate with anyone that is found wanting because the law will take its course. We cannot look at a situation where people are getting injured and they think they will get away with it,” he said.

Mr Kaziya said that the Ministry was going to continue making unexpected labour inspections in work places across the country to ensure that employers provided decent and safe jobs for the employees.

He said that it was in a safe environment that genuine productivity of goods and services would be produced.

“As the Ministry of Labour, we will continue to make random labour inspections, where we storm into an organisation to check what kind of environment employees are subjected to.

“It is for our own safety and the safety of the employees that when there is right working environment which is safe for everybody, then even productivity will go up,” he said.

Mr Kaziya further warned employers that did not take time to look at issues of health and safety for their employers that appropriate action would be taken against them.

“We are warning those factories that have issues with providing safety for their workers that we are on the ground to make sure that they make provisions adequate for the safety of the workers and if we find that they are not complying and especially where fatalities occur and it is a matter of neglect on their part, action will be taken,” he said.

Last week, one of the companies in the heavy industrial area reported that a worker suffocated to death after he was asked to clean an oil machine.