Inspectors say employers are not complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Service (IES) unit has found that two of every five inspected organisations are not complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).
Almost half of the workplaces that were inspected in the period between April 30, 2020 and May 08, 2020 were found to be non-complaint.
To be exact, 1,237 of the 2,789 organisations across the country were not compliant, resulting in the issuance of 1, 463 notices comprised of Contravention Notices, Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices.
“Of these inspections, 411 were conducted at government and or state-owned enterprises where the rate of compliance was at 50 percent,” said the Department in a statement.
“The Department is concerned that since the introduction of lockdown level 4, more organisations are not complying. The lessons learnt over the last 30 days of the lockdown have not impacted much on those organisations that started their operation on May, 1."
Given the fact that the virus is spreading substantially, the department is concerned especially about those employers where there are long queues or people congregating.?
"This is especially prevalent at government-related workplaces,” said Inspector General, Aggy Moiloa. “We are shocked that many organisations are still struggling to comply with the OHS Act. It should be every organisation’s habit. No wonder we still have so many workplace accidents. Progressive organisations invest in the wellness of their employees.”
The Department is now gearing up for more inspections as more organisations are starting to increase their operations with the result that more employees are anticipated to gradually start working again.
