Zimbabwe: NSSA Urge Farmers to Comply With Safety Standards

Source from:  The Herald  12/04/2013

THE National Social Security Authority has urged farmers with tobacco curing boilers to comply with minimum safety standards as required by law or risk prosecution. Most newly resettled farmers use makeshift boilers to cure tobacco and these pose danger to their lives in the event of explosions.

NSSA Principal Inspector of Factories Mr Morris Zendera said the authority has a mandate to inspect and prosecute those who fail to comply with the law.

"The authority has an obligation to ensure that all boilers in Zimbabwe meet minimum compliance required by the legislation. Any boiler must be manufactured to a standard approved by NSSA's Chief Inspector of Factories and Works under the supervision of an approved Independent Inspection Authority. Boilers must not be used without a valid certificate issued by NSSA upon satisfactory commissioning under the supervision of a NSSA Inspector," he said.

Mr Zendera said the illegal usage of boilers was on the increase especially in tobacco farms.

"The issue of compliance is of real concern.

"We have fatalities on tobacco farms and we are trying to get into farming communities to educate farmers on dangers of makeshift boilers," Mr Zendera said.

Steam boilers play an important role in many industrial sectors including textile, sugar, tea and paper manufacturing and agriculture.

Three people died in February this year at Hwata Farm in Mount Hampden after an improvised steam boiler used for curing tobacco exploded.

Workplace accidents continue to rise with at least 49 workers killed on duty and more than 3 600 injured between January and August this year. Enditem