Stakeholders’ workshop on the National Occupational Safety and Health Programme in Zambia

The stakeholders’ workshop was convened to critique and refine the zero draft of Zambia’s National Programme on Occupational Safety and Health.

The stakeholders’ workshop was convened to critique and refine the zero draft of Zambia’s National Programme on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) that had been developed by the Ministry of Labour, Youth and Sport’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health Services around the priority areas defined in a tripartite workshop in March 2011.

The workshop gathered 14 participants from the tripartite partners and other stakeholder organizations that constitute the National Project Advisory Committee.

The workshop commenced with an ILO presentation on National OSH Programmes in order to set the context for the discussions. It was reminded what a National OSH Programme was and what it sought to achieve and highlighted the importance of stakeholder participation in the development of the national programme. Mr Chivunda, Head of the OSH directorate in the Ministry of Labour then presented the zero draft of Zambia’s National OSH Programme. This served as the basis for the workshop’s deliberations. The rest of the workshop comprised group discussions interspaced with plenary discussions on the zero draft of Zambia’s National OSH Programme.

Following the discussions, the workshop made additions and amendments to the zero draft of the Programme. In addition, the participants resolved to have another meeting of the National Project Advisory Committee soon in order to conclude the preliminary discussions on the Draft National OSH Programme and to agree on a schedule of activities that will culminate into the adoption and launch of the National Programme on Occupational Safety and Health.

Though the workshop did not conclude its discussions on the zero draft of the National OSH Programme, significant progress was made in the shape of a National OSH Programme. Further, stakeholders demonstrated a passion and clear understanding of the direction they needed to take in order to come up with a bankable document befitting a national programme.