Maputo — Work accidents killed at least 22 people last year in Mozambique, while another 471 sustained both serious and light injuries.
The Mozambican authorities also reported a total of 602 work accidents in 2021, of which 266 in the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors.
These are the figures released in Maputo, on Monday, by the General Inspector of Labour, Domingos Sambo, at the launch of the 2nd edition of the Good Practices in Occupational Safety and Health Competition.
"The mining, construction and manufacturing sectors continue to be the sectors with the highest number of work accidents" said Sambo, explaining that "the three sectors alone account for 44.2 percent of the total cases."
Without providing further details, Sambo said that these data show a slight decrease compared to the same period in 2020.
According to the source, this fact denotes that special attention should be given to those sectors, prioritising a pedagogical approach in order to stimulate the voluntary spirit of promoting good practices on safety and health at work.
'In no way good practices should be viewed as mere bureaucratic or legal imposition by government authorities, but rather a crucial and indispensable issue, which should be placed on the top of priorities and central concerns of companies,' he said.
Therefore, the Mozambican authorities urge business to promote, with determination, good practices on safety and health at work, since productivity, success and institutional performance are, in part, dependent on the health, safety and welfare of human resources.
About the competition, Sambo explained that it shows the country's commitment, as a State that fights for the respect of the highest values of human dignity as postulated in the International Labour Law, Mozambique's Constitution, as well as in other country's legislation.
He also expressed government's expectations that this competition will allow sharing of experiences among different sectors.
The competition ends on 16 December, with the winners awarded during the ceremony.
