By Staff Reporter

Workplace fatalities in Zimbabwe have risen to a record high of 78 in 2025 compared to 60 recorded in 2023 and 70 recorded 2024.

This was revealed by the Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Edgar Moyo on the   opening the 2026 Engineers’ Workshop on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Bulawayo yesterday.

The workshop is being held under the theme “Vision Zero: Safety, Health and Well-being,” a global initiative aimed at eliminating workplace accidents, injuries, and deaths. It has brought together engineers, OSH experts, and industry players to share OSH best practices.

Moyo said irrespective of ongoing intensive occupational safety campaigns fatalities have risen. He warned that the numbers could be higher due to underreporting of accidents, largely in informal and small-scale operations where precarious work is rampant with weak compliance of safety regulations.

2025 recorded 4,414 injuries and 78 deaths, 2024, had 4,242 injuries and 70 fatalities and in 2023 4,334 injuries with 60 deaths were recorded.

The Minister questioned the effectiveness of OSH regulations’ compliance by employers and employers adding that statistics show Zimbabwe was still far from achieving ‘Vision Zero’.

“My question would be: have we been effective in our various roles? If we value occupational safety and health, we should expect our injury indicators to go down,” said Moyo.

 “No employee should get injured or die whilst creating work for someone else. Life is sacrosanct and God-given. Let us preserve it,” he said.

Moyo said the government is now working on new OSH legislation to strengthen enforcement and address persistent workplace hazards adding that all accidents are avoidable.

 “This calls for condemnation and should be discouraged in the strongest terms. All accidents at work are preventable. There is always a cause…. As we look into the future, let’s commit ourselves to inculcate a culture of safety and health in the workplace,” he said.

The minister urged employers and safety professionals to prioritise prevention, insisting that all workplace accidents are avoidable.