Ignore Health & Safety regulations during Covid-19 lockdown level 4 at your peril

Approximately 1.5 million employees returned to work exactly a week ago following the transition from lockdown alert level 5 to level 4, marking the first tentative risk-adjusted step of getting people back to work to help reignite and stimulate South Africa’s already fragile and failing economy.

The workplaces people left on 26 March, when the initial national lockdown was enforced, were very different places of work when they returned on 4 May.

Business has had to ramp up their health and safety state of readiness and preparedness, conduct risk assessments and put stringent health and safety measures in place in line with Covid-19 pandemic regulations.

These Covid-19 pandemic workplace health and safety regulations are as stringent as they are necessary, and place far reaching obligations on employers. The regulations are accompanied by some harsh penalties where workplaces are deemed to be non-compliant.

The OHS Act prescribes, inter alia, the following penalties in respect of non-compliance:

‘Any employer who does, or omits to do an act, thereby causing any person to be injured at a workplace, or, in the case of a person employed by him, to be injured at any place in the course of his employment, or any user of plant or machinery who does or omits to do an act in connection with the use of plant or machinery, thereby causing any person to be injured, shall be guilty of an offence if that employer or user of plant or machinery, as the case may be, would in respect of that act or omission have been guilty of the offence of culpable homicide had that act or omission caused the death of the said person, irrespective of whether the injury could have led to the death of such person, and on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding R100,000 or to imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.’

In applying a somewhat draconian approach to enforcing these health and safety regulations, the Department of Employment and Labour has threatened employers with closure and prosecution should they fail to comply with even the tiniest aspect of the regulations. Employers are urged to ensure that their workplaces adhere uncompromisingly to the health and safety regulations as prescribed by the Department of Employment and Labour.

Not to do so, places not only the business at risk of being shut down for the remainder of the lockdown period, but the health of the employees. In both instances, this situation which would surely lead to the demise of the business.

The following Occupational Health and Safety checklist is what the Department’s Inspectorate will use when assessing your business’ response to the introduction and implementation of stringent Covid-19 health and safety measures at the workplace.

Be safe, be healthy, be responsible and remain optimistic. We will get through this, together!

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Note: This article was originally published on 11 May 2020.

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