AFTER leaving college, my first workplace was Workers Compensation Fund Control Board (WCFCB) which had its head-office in Ndola, by then it was called Workman’s Compensation Fund Control Board.
During my brief stint at this institution, little did I know the importance it occupied as regards workers who permanently suffer disabilities or contract diseases at places of work and are unable to continue working.
Years later when I became a business analyst I came to understand the importance of the institution and I can reflect on one of its social responsibilities of turning some of its pensioners into business entrepreneurs.
This is done by assisting pensioners living with disabilities with capital and turning around their careers by offering them vocational training in life saving skills like carpentry, sewing and metal-work at the vocational rehabilitation centre in Ndola.
The board has gone an extra mile by sponsoring some pensioners to study in various fields including accountancy and consequently offering them employment graduating.
However, my area of interest is pensioners turned into entrepreneurs.
The board runs a vocational training centre in Ndola where courses like the ones already alluded to are undertaken.
As most of you may be aware, one other major reason why WCFCB was established is to help workers in the country by compensating them for disabilities suffered or diseases contracted as result of the nature of their work.
It is important for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to note that the board registers all employers in the country regardless of their size, who take the responsibility of managing workers and responsible for their salaries and wages.
However, the board will not process a compensation claim for workers who suffer disability or contract diseases at places of work if it is discovered that the employer is not registered or found to be in default.
Today we look at the workers who suffer permanent disabilities and are not able to go back for work and the kind of social responsibility the Board extends to such workers.
It is without doubt that time arrives when the board takes in its care the welfare of the workers and that time is when the worker becomes permanently disabled through occupational accident or sickness contracted at places of work.
When the board establishes that a worker suffers permanent injuries through occupational accident or sickness and the appointed medical doctors assess the worker through medical examination, the affected worker will be entitled to a life pension if the degree of disability is 10 per cent or more.
One major interest the board takes into consideration when looking after the welfare of workers who are pensionable and want to start a new life by becoming business entrepreneurs, is allowing them to commute part of their pension.
This is done if the commuted lump sum amount can enable the pensioner to invest in any business venture depending on the discretion of the commissioner who is the chief executive of the board.
In this way the board assists the pensioner to raise capital for the business venture while at the same time continuing to receive the remaining pension money on a monthly basis.
Another responsibility the board offers to some pensioners and promote entrepreneurism, is to place them in the vocational rehabilitation centre, where they receive training in some of the life saving skills after losing employment due to occupational accidents and diseases contracted at the places of work.
It is important, therefore, that SMEs look at the larger picture of the welfare of workers after any unfortunate circumstance they can be exposed to.?High risk industries prone to accidents such as small mining companies, construction industries, and the transport industries in the category of SMEs should take WCFCB seriously.
They should ensure that they work with the board in safeguarding the welfare of workers in the aftermath of such incidences to mitigate the suffering of affected workers.
WCFCB is the insurance place for workers in the country and this is dependent on the compliance levels from the employers, in this case the SMEs and the change of the mindset about the myth that WCFCB is for ‘big’ organisations.
I have discovered that few SMEs know about the WCFCB and its role with regard workers’ insurance.
The SMEs should be aware that the board is mandated by Act number 10 of 1999 of the Laws of Zambia as the insurance company for workers in the country and therefore, it is Government’s policy to ensure that workers are insured.
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