DOSH winner Murara Plants sets the standard for workplace health and safety in Kenya

HilverdaFlorist’s Kericho-based cutting farm Murara Plants Ltd was among the winners at Kenya’s 2023 DOSH Awards.

Presented by the Directorate of Occupational Safety & Health Services (DOSHS) with the support of Kenya’s Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, the annual awards recognise professionals who make lasting contributions to Occupational Safety and Health.

The event ceremony happened on 28 April coinciding with the UN’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work. This year’s theme was ‘A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work’.

About 200 people attended the awards ceremony at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu to celebrate the finalists commitment improving workplace health and safety in different sector of Kenya’s economy.

Cabinet Secretary Florence Bore delivered a speech referencing the 177 workers who died and the 4,398 workers who suffered injuries in the workplace last year. She urged companies to adopt occupational safety and health as a fundamental principle and right at work.

Murara Plants took home the DOSH award in the category Agriculture.

Nestled at an altitude of 2,100 metres in Kericho’s highlands, to the west of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, Murara Plants grows cuttings for cut flower, bedding plant and perennial plant customers with The Mau Forest and and tea plantations as backdrop.

The cutting farm adheres to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles and runs several community and welfare projects. The company implements measures that will positively impact workplace health and safety including the training of its employees so they can better understand the relevant health and safety legislation, their legal rights and responsibilities, and learn more about  hygiene protocols and HIV/AIDS, and Covid-19.

Moreover, Murara provides housing and individual kitchen gardens to promote growing vegetables and sufficient supply of clean water free of charge. At the site in Keriche there’s a modern child care centre where employees’ children between the age of 6 months to 3 years are taking care of. Children can also stay at a preschool until they start school at five.