Ss34-03 Training of Occupational Safety and Health Inspectorates in Africa

Abstract Introduction Occupational safety and health (OSH) inspection is a strategic approach towards workplace health and safety improvement and enforcement of standards. While this is a legislative requirement in line with ILO Conventions, most countries across Africa still struggle with this very important component of OSH as a result of underfunding and under-resourcing within this part of OSH practice. This invariably has negatively impacted workplace health and safety improvement and increased the number of occupational injuries and diseases in workplaces across Africa. Materials and Methods Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) developed an eight-week virtual training program focused on the real issues within African workplace health and safety inspection. Instructors were drawn from both the USA and Africa to deliver these training modules with reading materials sent to participants a week ahead of each class in the hope that the participants would be able to read the material before the commencement of each class. Results Through this WHWB training program, we have succeeded in training and improving the OSH inspection competencies of 147 OSH inspectors from 21 African countries. Conclusions Our expectation is that those who have gone through this training, from the Government Ministries of Labour and Employment in different countries, are able to use these new and improved competencies, and also to help build the capacity of other OSH inspectors within their workplaces.