The Labour Day holiday has passed, it was a colourful event as always. However each Labour Day season brings, attractive sounding themes, which are quickly forgotten by most of us.
The things that lingers on are about marching and who got the suits and the chitenjes this year. Offices are a flurry of activity as the people in the know, hold planning meetings and decide about colours of suits and skirts.
There is always concern about the plight of workers, the rights of the workers and youth unemployment.
However when the day itself has passed, often the concerns are hang like the suits and skirts which have served their purpose for the day. We only pull them out the following year to make sure that last year’s colours are not the same as this year’s.
Perhaps I have just spent too many hours in the operating room and I am a bit out of touch, but I always ask myself about the suits and the marching. I thought to ask my colleague, who seemed to know better than I did about Labour Day and all the marching.
He scratched his head in bemusement, “it’s the opportunity for the workers to be heard over their issues” he answered confidently.
“Which issues?” I asked stubbornly.
“Union issues” he offered confidently.
“Does that include health issues?” I rejoined casually.
“It could”, he replied candidly, “but, they are more pertinent issues like …,” he continued, unfolding a litany of workers misfortunes.
“So how does Labour Day address those?” I asked him.
“It doesn’t”, he replied candidly, “it puts them on the table for the employers to address”.
“How does that help the workers?” I asked in obvious surprise.
“It doesn’t”, he said “it allows them to let off some steam and feel a bit better”.
I am not sure my friend was right, and that Labour Day is all about cleaning our conscience. I decided nonetheless that perhaps someone should address the issue in this Labour Day period of health and the work place.
1. What are the problems in Zambia around Health and the work place?
2. How can these problems be addressed?
3. What can I do to keep myself healthy in the work place?
1. What are the problems around health and the work place?
There are three key issues in Zambia around health in the work place. These are stress, safety and security. Many people find that their major source of stress comes from their work place. This in turn, poses a threat to health in the work force. How many work mates have we heard succumb to heart disease, ulcers and cancers, occasioned certainly in part by work related stress. Safety is a second risk factor in the work place. Many workers, in heavy industry, mining, construction, agriculture, energy and many more face the risk of physical and chemical injury, because of the area where they work and the equipment that they use. Including in some instances the chemicals ,fumes and effluent produced by this equipment. I have certainly seen in my time in hospital admission wards occupational injury from chemical burns, electrical burns, chemical poisoning, power drill injuries, heavy vehicle injuries, crush injury and many more. When know that the leading cause of ill health in Zambia is Respiratory disease and the fourth leading cause of ill health are injuries. I ask myself the question how many of the respiratory illness and injuries are job related?
Many young people are in informal employment today in Zambia, doing welding, painting and plumbing outside markets and in plenty of open spaces in the communities. They work with harmful equipment with very minimal protection. How many times have you seen young men doing arc welding without eye or ear protection?
Security is the third arm of this occupational health risk triangle. In this, includes the health support available for the worker at his work place. This includes personal protective equipment, first aids support, general education and work based health insurance. What is the size of the occupational health problem in Zambia? Studies have shown the largest work force in Zambia is in the agriculture industry (50per cent), followed by sales/services industry (28per cent) and then mining(15per cent ). However the highest injuries and fatality rates recorded are in the mining sector, according to a study by Michelo, which showed an annual injury rate of 5.5 per 1,000 and a fatality rate of 1.1 per 1000. How does this compare to other countries in the region and abroad. These levels are certainly higher than what obtains in the USA, Australia, and Canada (0.64, 0.25 and 0.17 respectively). There are also slightly higher than what obtains in the SADC region. Studies show that while mining is becoming safer in developed countries it is becoming more unsafe in developing countries. More worrying is the fact that, it is becoming even more unsafe in Zambia ,than it has been in the past (0.71 in 1973 compared with 1.1 in 2007). In the agricultural industry a high level of lung injury and lung disease is reported in Tobacco and Cotton farming. In the service sector work related injury and loss of man hours have been reported from muscle related injury (backache, joint pain, neck strain etc), stress (ulcers, high blood pressure) and dust inhalation (chronic cough, Tuberculosis). The level of health insurance and health protection schemes available at work places are limited and reported to be less than 10per cent in the labour force in Zambia.
2. How can this problem be addressed?
The level of unemployment in Zambia is high.
This means that labour is plenty and it tends to be cheap.
It also means that concerns for health are not paramount in the mind of a young Zambian looking for a job. Foremost in the minds of many Zambians is the finding of a job, and the hope that the rest will sort itself out.
The safety and health of the work place including work related compensation are the lowest on the priority list of most prospective employers. Some studies by Siziya and others show that in Zambia worker related injury is at about 8 per cent every year.
It also shows that the rate of compensation for work related injury is only at 6 per cent.
In other words of all the workers who have work related injury only 0.5 per cent ever get any compensation. Given these sobering facts the greatest burden for health and safety rests in the hands of the worker themselves.
The onus is on the worker to minimise stress in the work place, to insist on safety in the work place and to secure his or her own health security.
In terms of solution they are three areas that one might look for solutions to this problem and these are;
1. Nationally –occupational risk policy and legislation
2. Locally- Employer worker friendly health policies.
3. Personal _ self-education on occupational health risks and their prevention
Some jobs are certainly risker than other jobs. In a study of occupational health risk in the USA it was shown by the Bureau of Labour statistics that workers in fishing, timber and construction have the highest safety risks, in contrast to those in other occupations.
You will find if you look at the International Labour Organisation and World Health Organisation web sites around the area of Health and the work place, that Zambia has most of the recommendations on the guidelines in place, such as the legislative framework and a Workmans compensation scheme.
However the key failing is in monitoring and implementation. This failing is not a failure on the government side it is a failure on our own side.
We should make it our business to know the health risks related to our occupation, what personal protective equipment should be provided and make some efforts towards some health service provision through our work place.
However in many instances we preoccupy ourselves primarily with the matters of wages, sometimes at the expense of our own health and safety
3. How can I keep myself healthy in the work place?
One of the easiest things to do when we are confronted with a problem, is to blame someone else for it. I do it all the time and I am sure most of us do it too.
It takes a brave person to admit that they have a role in the problem they are faced with and they can do something about it.
Certainly the Employer has a role in Health and safety at the work place as does the government, but so too does the worker.
The easiest way to think about it, is to think of yourself in the shoes of an employer.
The Zambian labour statistics show that the largest form of employment for females in the informal sector is as domestic workers.
Many who will read this article will have domestic workers, how many of us will have thought of stress, safety and security in terms of these workers.
If we are honest we will admit, that not only have we not, but we were upset that the government created a minimum wage for this type of worker.
In the interest of preserving good readership of this article, I would best stop there on this matter.
The question which remains, then is, what can I do to ensure my own health and safety at the work place. The following points are things to consider;
1. Job selection- choose a job with minimal health and safety risks if you can,
2. Education on health risks; take the trouble to be aware of the common health risks for your job and their mitigations,
3. Strengthen health in the union agenda; make an effort to ensure that your local shop steward puts health and safety on the agenda for your work place
4. Advocate for health workplace policies; check for the health and safety entitlements provided for in your employment terms.
5. Advocate for health safety monitoring; ask for annual monitoring of these standards where they are available.
It is amazing how few people know if there is a union or some union services at their work place. It is even more amazing how few workers know about their health and safety entitlements as provided by their employer in their employment terms, which they are not receiving.
It is even more amazing how no one, checks to monitor basic safety requirements at very high risk industrial work places.
For these reasons casualization of labour poses the greatest health and safety risks to workers.
Simply because such workers have no proper labour entitlements.
Maybe the next Labour Day theme should be on “Health and Safety in the work place”. Then perhaps workers can get to let off some steam on this too!!