The BWI Southern Africa Construction Network (SACONET) hosted an Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and Mental Health Workshop on 23-25 September 2026 in Harare, Zimbabwe, in collaboration with 3F, bringing together 24 trade union representatives and labour inspectors rom seven BWI affiliates from six countries. Grounded in ILO Conventions C155 and C187, the workshop redefined workplace safety by integrating psychological wellness into core OSH frameworks and positioning mental health as a fundamental workers' right.

Participants examined high-risk physical hazards, showing how constant physical danger drives severe mental overload, fatigue, and anxiety. Anchored in employers' statutory duty of care, unions reaffirmed every worker's legal right to refuse dangerous work without fear of victimization. Using a World Café format, participants identified key drivers of site-level psychosocial distress and translated these issues into adaptable collective bargaining agreement (CBA) clauses, mental health policy non-negotiables, and pre-shift talk scripts that incorporate mental health check-ins. Using AI tools, teams also generated visual campaigns and learned to do so themselves at the national level.

To support regional implementation, BWI provided a starting guide centered on core union interventions. The guide outlines five policy non-negotiables that mandate equal priority for psychosocial hazards, an enforceable right to disconnect, fatigue controls, anti-retaliation protections, employer-funded wellness programs with union peer support, and joint union-management OSH committees. Finally, the pre-shift Toolbox Talk framework provided a mental check-in system that aims to remind workers that psychological distraction on site is as dangerous as a faulty harness, supported by mandatory heat-stress pauses and confidential hazard reporting.

“Occupational health and mental health must be at the heart of every workplace; as trade unions, we must stand together to protect every worker’s dignity, safety and wellbeing,” ZCATWU Deputy General Secretary Fozert Mugabe said.