WCF urges employers to submit claimant’s information digitally 

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) has urged employers to effectively use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) when submitting information of an employee who is involved in an accident, illness, or died to ease processing of compensation.

WCF Director General Dr John Mduma made the call while opening a seminar for the Dar es Salaam Region’s Human Resource Officers and occupational safety and health officers.

He said as the officers representing companies, they have responsibilities to act as a link between the employer and the WCF.

Mr Mduma said the Fund has ensured that it has simplified the provision of services in line with the technological changes. Currently all services are available online through the portal.wcf.go.tz.

“Our experience indicates that there is high response to our services given that they are online, I advise that we should keep on enticing people to use the online platforms that offer WCF services in order to simplify the provision of services, cut costs and time, and expedite the payment of compensation,” he insisted.

Elaborating, he noted that the fund was established with the goal of providing adequate and equitable compensation to employees who get injuries, diseases or die while at work.

Additionally, Dr Mduma noted that the government has set up the Fund to bear the responsibility of looking after an employee who becomes ill or injured at work, while the employer continues to with production and managing the sustainability of the businesses, hence helping to expand the national economy.

“We believe that by separating these, we are creating a better social security model for workers’ compensation than it was before the establishment of the Fund,” he noted.

Speaking about the seminar, the WCF Director of Evaluation Services, Dr Abdulsalaam Omar, said the participants not only learned about occupational safety and health issues, such as how to recognise workplace hazards, but they also learned how to report accidents or illnesses at work through the Internet, including sending claims.

The participants commended the WCF for continuing to educate various groups about workers compensation.

One of the participants, Ms Zainab Jereko urged employers to pay attention to workplace safety and health, saying although the WCF provides compensation the employers have to prioritise workers safety and health.

She further commended the system which enables making claims online, saying: “It has been a great help to employers as it has simplified the provision of information but also eliminated the inconvenience and waste of time going to the WCF offices to provide information.”

“With all that I have learned, I am very pleased with the way the Fund has set up modern systems for providing information through the Internet,” another participant is Mr Goodlove Bugenyi.