The Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) and Tanzania Petrol Station Operators Association (TAPSOA) agreed to cooperate in improving occupational safety and health to petrol station’s workers within the country through inspections, training and technical advices from OSHA staffs.

This agreement was made during the meeting between OSHA management and TAPSOA members from lake zone regions held in Mwanza where both two sides discussed the best ways of enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Act no 5. of 2003 and its principles.

The meeting was opened by Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office (Policy, Coordination, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled) Jenista Mhagama where she insisted on good cooperation between TAPSOA and OSHA in enforcing the mentioned act as well as explaining the roles of oil sector in the country’s economy.

“who said you didn’t contribute on our country to achieve the middle economy?  Basically, you have made a great effort towards these achievements, as the country we need to fight poverty and you’re the key stakeholders who can help us. As I have said earlier 66% of the oil stations investors are Tanzanian and more than 60% of workers in this sector are women therefore you can see how important is this sector in the development of our country thus why we must take care of it”. Said Minister Mhagama 

Secretary general of TAPSOA, Augustino Mmasi who was the deputy chair person of the meeting, said TAPSOA members believes that if their arguments and suggestions given through different sessions will be implemented the aim of the government to prevent risks at workplaces will succeed. 

On the side of OSHA Chief Executive, Khadija Mwenda said the origin of that meeting was due to a short evaluation made by OSHA on enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Act no 5. of 2003 where we discovered a gap in gathering different occupational safety and health information which are very important in creating occupational safety and health policies of the country.

“We made an evaluation on how we are enforcing occupational safety and health issues in our country and we discovered that we didn’t reach more workplaces due to the procedures we used, to do inspections and to advice on how to improve the occupational safety and health, therefore we started to inspect by sectors, by doing that we have succeed to reach all important sectors including mining, communication, banks, ports and industries.” Said OSHA Chief Executive.

OSHA is an institution under the Prime Minister’s Office, its responsibility is to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2003 and its principles, through registering of workplaces, conducting inspections, and providing technical advices on how to improve occupational safety and health systems.