ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Health
Sec. Occupational Safety and Health Interventions
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvh.2025.1565213
UPTAKE OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY OF ZIMBABWE: CASE OF MUTARE MANUFACTURING FACTORIES
Provisionally accepted
- Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe
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Background: Promotion of OSH management systems (OSHMSs) has gained commendable traction worldwide with the developed world taking the lead, however non to suboptimal implementation of OSHMSs is still evident in the least developed and developing countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the uptake of OSHMSs in the manufacturing industry of the City of Mutare in Zimbabwe.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study that exploited the pragmatism philosophical approach was utilized. Data collection was done through administration of 312, 30 and 11 questionnaires to worker, top manager and OSH practitioner respondents respectively complimented by interviews and secondary data from respective manufacturing factories. Data was analyzed, presented using pie charts, bar graphs and frequency tables to illustrate trends and then discussed qualitatively in continuous prose. Results: Results revealed subdued implementation of OSHMSs in manufacturing industry of Mutare as evidenced by a low uptake rate of 26.7%. Results projected lack of leadership and management commitment and lack of human, material, and financial resources for systems sustenance as main reasons for non-implementation of OSHMSs.Conclusion: Low uptake rate of OSHMSs revealed is a serious bottleneck to the endeavor to attain OSH sustainability for securing the future of work. Practical Implications: The study among other interventions places a demand on the Government of Zimbabwe to collaborate with researchers towards the development of a simplified OSHMS model targeting the Micro, Small to Medium Enterprises(MSMEs), to strengthen OSH legislation by making it mandatory for workplaces to implement some critical elements of OSHMS, to establish a policy that compels institutions of higher learning to complement national efforts in promoting OSHMSs uptake by establishing OSH innovation hubs meant to solve OSHMSs implementation challenges .
Keywords: Heading 2, Left Occupational Safety and Health, Occupational safety and health management system, Decent work, Developing Countries, OSH sustainability
Received: 22 Jan 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mandowa, Matsa and JERIE. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Johanes Mandowa, Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe
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