Status of Occupational Health and Safety and Related Challenges in Expanding Economy of Tanzania

Abstract

Most Tanzanians are not covered by the occupational health and safety law and do not access occupational health services. Thus an occupational health and safety services strategy, backed by legislations and provided with the necessary resources (competent experts, financial and technological resources), is a necessity in Tanzania. The existing legal provisions require major modifications to meet international requirements and standards. OHS regulations and legislations need refocusing, revision, and strengthening to cover all working population. Capacities should be improved through training and research to enable enforcement. Finally the facilities and resources should be made available for OHS services to match with the growing economy.

Occupational safety and health in Ecuador

“…A model was designed to gather information for further analysis based on international safety and occupational health diagnostics 3,4 and latin-american ones. 13,14 The main dimensions of the object of the study are geographic situation, sociodemographic data, public health data, legal regulations, statistics of occupational diseases and working accidents, and education and research on OSH in Ecuador.…”

“…1,2 In the last decades, standing out international experiences have led to the reformulation and reorientation of new strategies in the national agendas of OSH based on the need to adjust to the ongoing worldwide demographic and economic changes. 3,4 Furthermore, there are existing experiences that were developed through the Andean Initiative in Safety and Occupational Health (IAN-SST) in 2010, led by the Safety and Occupational Health Institute of Peru (ISAT) and the collaboration of the Government of Canada, to perform the SST diagnostics for Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. 5;8 With respect to the results of the Safety and Occupational Health Situational Diagnosis for Ecuador developed in 2011, the existence of unfavorable work and employment conditions was evidenced.…”

Current Status and the Future of Occupational Safety and Health Legislation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…161 of 1985 [1] and the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 2008–2017 Global Plan for Action [2] both demonstrate the value that the international community has to safety issues. Unfortunately, developing countries are lagging far behind in comparison with their industrialized counterparts, with regard to the provision of OSH services to workers [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] . According to LaDou [6] , 20–50% of workers in developed countries have access to adequate OSH services, whereas in developing countries, it is only 5–10%.…”

“…According to LaDou [6] , 20–50% of workers in developed countries have access to adequate OSH services, whereas in developing countries, it is only 5–10%. Even worse, in some countries, for example, Tanzania, less than 5% of the workforce has access to OSH services [3] . More importantly, the lack of adequate OSH services contributes to high work-related injuries [3] , [4] , [7] .…”

“…Even worse, in some countries, for example, Tanzania, less than 5% of the workforce has access to OSH services [3] . More importantly, the lack of adequate OSH services contributes to high work-related injuries [3] , [4] , [7] . Because OSH legislation is a vital component of injury prevention programs, compensation, and litigation functions, an examination of such legislation for developing low- and middle-income countries may help to identify their current limitations, strengths, and priority areas for continual improvement.…”