Human capital vital for productivity, says official
Employers need to continuously check the health and welfare of its employees as human capital is vital for productivity in the workplace, an occupation medicine practitioner Yotamu Moyo has said.
He said this on Friday at the close of a week-long Global Internal Health Week at Central East African Railways (Cear) in Limbe, Blantyre under the theme Mental Health.
Moyo advised employees to refrain from taking drinks that contain high caffeine, including energy drinks that have flooded the market, as they contribute to fatigue in the workplace which could affect productivity.
“The Occupation Safety and Welfare Act of the country requires workplaces to provide a safe and health work environment. This is important because as you know that much of the capital of any organisation is run by people and it is upon the condition of the people that are working in that particular company that determines how productive that workplace is going to be.”
In a separate interview, Cear health and safety environment supervisor Friday Kapito said they put the health and welfare of employees at the heart; hence, engaging in such initiatives.
He said: “The issue of taking care of employees through tackling their mental health is something that has to do with our obligation as it is stipulated in the employees Occupational Health and Safety Welfare Act that we need to make sure that companies take care of their employees.”
Kapito said the training was taking place in all Cear stations and all the companies operating along the Nacala corridor, which spans a distance of 807 kilometres from Blantyre to Nacala in Mozambique, 988 kilometres from Kanengo, Lilongwe to Nacala and 1 150 kilomtres from Chipata, Zambia.
Cear, jointly with its Mozambican sister company Corridor Desenvolvimento Do Norte (CDN), runs a concession to manage and operate the Nacala Railway Corridor.
The concession started in 1999 and was recently renewed up to 2045.
Jointly owned by a Brazilian mining and logistics firm Vale, Mitsui of Japan and the Mozambican Railway Port Company, Caminhos de Ferro de Mozambique (CFM) as the main shareholders, Cear and CDN are the only railway transport service provider on the Nacala Railway Corridor.
Among the topics under discussion during the health week included issues to do with how drug and substance abuse affects people in the workplaces, depression, stress and fatigue and how they affect performance of employees.
