By  Own Correspondent

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) recently hosted the 2025 June 6 commemorations on the back of revelations that  a total of 4 912 injuries and 76 fatalities were recorded in the year 2024 prompting calls for urgent combative measures to curb the tide.

Workplace accidents are unplanned events resulting in injury, illness, or death that occur while performing work-related activities. Various factors, including human error, equipment malfunction, and environmental hazards, can contribute to workplace accidents.

In a statement, the ZCTU President Florence Taruvinga to mark  this year's June 6 commemorations, the labour organ revealed that workplace injuries and fatalities rose significantly during the period.

“In 2024 Zimbabwe experienced a concerning rise in occupational injuries and fatalities. It is reported that there were 4,912 injuries and 76 fatalities throughout the year, what about those accidents that went unreported? It is our demand that we cannot continue to suffer from workplace neglect as workers without the responsible authorities being brought to account for the injuries and death being experienced in the workplace,” she said.

Taruvinga said the mining industry has become synonymous with unsafe shafts, equipment failure, and weak regulations that are causing unnecessary deaths.

In Agriculture, she said workers work without personal protective equipment and are exposed to Chemicals, heat stress, and poor living conditions while in the retail and commercial sectors, workers are exposed to long hours of work, job insecurity and poor ergonomics.

Taruvinga said in the informal sector over 80 percent of workers operate with no safety laws, medical care, or recognisable rights while the transport and manufacturing sectors have also not been spared as workers work with very dangerous old and archaic machinery, poorly maintained and without proper safety nets.

“As the voice of workers, we clearly pronounce that enough is enough. We demand the following: Full enforcement of OSH laws across all economic sectors, establishment of functional health and safety committees in every workplace and access to adequate PPE, occupational health training, and medical services for all workers,” added Taruvinga.

The June 6 commemorations are held annually to reflect on the  Kamandama Mine Disaster that happened on June 6, 1972 in Hwange where 427 miners died in this particular underground mine whose cause was attributed to methane gas explosion.