Delegates to the National Conference on Occupational Safety and Health 2024 have called for the expedited establishment of an insurance-backed workers’ compensation fund.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday on the sidelines of the two-day conference in Blantyre where it was disclosed that only a quarter of the 2 417 workplace injuries and 39 deaths were compensated in 2019, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions secretary general Madalitso Njolomole said the establishment of a dedicated fund will ensure that all workers are compensated.
He said: “We have seen a lot of examples in neighbouring countries on how effective the national compensation authorities are, if government really wants to protect us, they have to go in this direction.”
Njolomole said the fund will ensure that the workers get their compensations on time.
Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (Ecam) executive director George Khaki said there is need for the government to realign the labour laws and policies to the International Labour Organisation’s conventions which the country ratified.
“The system at the moment is that individual employers must pay compensations, not many employers have the capacity to pay the compensation as required,” he said.
Khaki also bemoaned lack of a labour market information system to provide recent information, a situation that leads to the industry to depend on information dating as far back as 2019.
He also called upon the government to provide enough resources to the Ministry of Labour for it to carry out occupational health inspections.
Ministry of Labour director of administration Paul Kalilombe said government has put in place mechanisms to ensure that workers are protected from death and injury in the workplace.
“The government of Malawi ratified ILO [International Labour Organisation] Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health, Convention 187 on Promotional framework for Occupational Safety and Health and Convention 184 on Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture,” he said.
Kalilombe said the ministry was also reviewing the Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Act, 1997 and is developing regulations on hazardous substances, medical examination and first aid, among others, for the country to align with the ILO conventions.
ILO Malawi technical officer Patience Matandiko said they are implementing a vision zero initiative which seeks to achieve zero harm, zero accidents and zero occupational diseases in the workplace.
“Every worker, everywhere deserves safe and healthy working conditions. Unsafe workplaces have devastating effects on workers and their families as a result of accidents, diseases and deaths,” she said.
