The Importance of Health Insurance for Mufindi Forestry Employees
Forestry workers are an occupational group at high risk of work-related injury. There is a lot more to forestry than just cutting wood. The workers at Mufindi Forestry in Tanzania know this only too well. Conservation, wildlife habitat, erosion control and more come into play as well.
In South Africa, forestry is an important economic segment. A drive through Mpumalanga for instance will give you an idea of how much land these forests cover.
Team leader of the PFP or Private Forestry Programme, Michael Hawkes, put this challenge to the workers. He was speaking during a training programme. Hawkes said that occupational health is concerned with the safety and health of people at work.
Mufindi Forestry – Dangers Lurk within the Forestry Industry
The forestry industry is one where workers toil in particularly risky environments. Therefore it was important to be aware of the need for health insurance.
The workers of Mufindi Forestry need insurance. Having this cover can protect the workers from a range of forestry risks. These include falling trees, using special forestry equipment, site clearing as well as liability cover for fires, lightning etc.
He added that nobody plans to get sick or to be badly injured, but both can happen out the blue, and then you want good medical care. Health is everything, and Hawkes was explaining to the workers that they were being provided with this 3 weeks training on work place health and safety so that they could understand why medical aid or health insurance was so important.
The FWITC or Forestry and Wood Industries Training Centre’s training manager, Nuru Salasala said that they were providing training to specifically provide education for industrial workers.
Mufindi Forestry – Training Imperative for Safety and Efficiency
Technologies and knowledge about forestry have changed and developed massively. Forestry and logging is no longer something you do with a saw and axe. Modern logging machinery, if not used correctly can cause injury and death. Training is imperative to ensure safer, more efficient operations.
Salasala also said that many workers operate in dangerous industrial industries and they needed to be aware of what protective options were available to them.
The FWITC offers short courses in –
- saw milling
- first aid
- IT
- occupational health and safety
- harvesting
- forest management ….among others
The Forestry and Wood Industries Training Centre started in 2016 to be available for these useful short courses. FWITC is found in Mafinga town, Mufundi district and easily accessible to all forestry and wood industry companies operating in the southern highlands of Tanzania.
Forestry is one of the most hazardous industrial sectors around the world in most countries. There are still concerning trends of accident rates as well as a high incidence of occupational diseases. It explains why so many forestry workers look at taking early retirement and why health insurance is so vitally important to have.
Salasala said the private forestry programmes were implemented by the governments of Finland and Tanzania. One of the participants taking part in the training said the courses would be hugely beneficial as they were working with machines which could be dangerous if not used properly.
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All info was correct at time of publishing