THE government has underscored the need for the Constitution and Legal Affairs Parliamentary Committee to understand the recent resolution made by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on safety at workplaces.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability), Prof Joyce Ndalichako, emphasised on the matter when she presented the ILO’s resolution to the committee over the weekend in Dodoma.
“The Prime Minister’s Office has seen it important to engage the committee in order to enable it understand those changes so that it can effectively advise the government and the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) about issues of safety at workplaces in the country,” Prof Ndalichako pointed out.
She said the member countries, Tanzania among them, during the 110th international conference of the ILO, resolved that issues of safety at workplaces are not only legally binding but also basic right.
The member states passed the resolution unanimously at the conference held in Swiss between May 27 and June 11 last year. Prof Ndalichako, who was accompanied by the OSHA’s Chief Executive Officer Khadija Mwenda and other executives from the Prime Minister’s Office, represented Tanzania.
The conference ruled that the safety at workplaces fall under the freedom of association, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour, the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Committee’s chairman Joseph Mhagama thanked the minister for her efforts in ensuring that the committee effectively fulfils its duty of overseeing the Prime Minister’s Office and institutions under it through providing various capacity-building seminars.
On her part, when speaking to the committee’s members, Ms Mwenda appreciated the committee for offering advice and guidelines that have been helping the authority to improve safety and health at workplaces.
