Introduction Uganda’s 38.3 million population and 17.2 million labour-force are on the rise, creating high pressure of job creation and a working populace that’s ready to settle for ‘any job’ which often implies compromising their safety and health. Government programs geared towards compelling employers to institute safety measures for decent and social economic development, can only be effectively designed starting with clear picture of the extent of the problem, and statistical evidence of the gaps/issues for redress.

Methods Using case studies of randomly selected workplaces from different sectors of Uganda’s economy, scrutiny was done of the available statistics as well as the retrospective evaluation of the underlying challenges hindering effective data collection in the country. Stakeholder analysis was undertaken to identify the various parties that have a role to play in data collection, their achievements and challenges faced.

Results Uganda’s labour-force varies in numbers and gender distribution per sector; Agriculture employs 74% (11.6 million, 46% male), Trade, Leisure and hospitality employs 9.4% (1.5 million, 46% male), manufacturing employs 4.9% (780,000, 55% male), Public Sector employs 4.5% (716,000, 51%male), 2% in transport and communication (98% male), 1.7% in construction (97% male), and 3.5% engaged in mining/quarrying, finance, energy, etc.

Literacy rate of adult population (over 15 years) is 73.87%; 80.85% and 66.89% for males and females respectively. Youth (15–24 years) literacy rates are 87.43% and 86.57% for males and females respectively. These Ugandans continue to suffer occupational illnesses, injuries and fatalities, which aren’t documented in absence of effective data capture systems.

Discussion The study attempts to draw linkages between workplaces that attempt to capture OSH data with their general HSE performance, building the case of the need to collect this information so as to feed into national data bases hence inform policy decisions for improved HSE performance and building a safety culture.