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An analysis of legislation and policies governing the working conditions of sanitation workers in Zimbabwe

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Abstract

Sanitation workers are at high risk of occupational and health hazards associated with exposure to faecal sludge as they clean public toilets, empty septic tanks, repair sewerage pipelines and operate wastewater treatment facilities. They can only be protected from these hazards through effective safety and health measures backed by sound institutional and legal frameworks. This study sought to analyse the existing institutional and legal frameworks, regulations and policies governing working conditions of sanitation workers in Zimbabwe and assess the adequacy of the frameworks in addressing the plight of sanitation workers in their day to day work. An inventory of the laws and policies in Zimbabwe was done through a desktop study. The identified laws and policies were analysed in terms of occupational health and safety provisions for sanitation workers as well as the enforcement systems. The laws and policies in Zimbabwe were benchmarked with world best practice and principles from world bodies governing occupational health and safety. It was found that the current legislation and policies on occupational health and safety are general to all employees. It was also found that there are statutory instruments specific to hazards associated with other sectors such as mining, agriculture and construction but nothing specific to sanitation workers. Therefore the current legislation and policies are too weak to protect the sanitation workers. It was recommended that the legislation and policies be reformed to take into account the plight of sanitation workers in order to provide better protection from occupational hazards.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of National Social Security Authority (NSSA) of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo City Council and Harare City Council in accessing relevant documents.

Funding

WaterAid (UK); the funding source played no role in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Construction and Civil Engineering, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, P.O Box MP167, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Annatoria Chinyama

  2. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Lupane State University, P.O Box 170, Lupane, Zimbabwe

    Margaret Macherera

  3. Department of Environmental Science, National University of Science and Technology, P.O Box AC939, Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

    Tendai Kativhu

Authors
  1. Annatoria Chinyama
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  2. Margaret Macherera
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  3. Tendai Kativhu
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Contributions

A. Chinyama wrote the main manuscript.T. Kativhu and M. Macherera collected relevant documents and conducted the document reviews. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annatoria Chinyama.

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Chinyama, A., Macherera, M. & Kativhu, T. An analysis of legislation and policies governing the working conditions of sanitation workers in Zimbabwe. Saf. Extreme Environ. 6, 71–77 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42797-023-00089-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42797-023-00089-1

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