Working hard to ensure workers’ safety

Government directs employers on health and safety measures to minimise the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace

As thousands of employees return to the workplace following the easing of the lockdown, government is determined to ensure their safety and provide them with the necessary support.

Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi issued a direction that sets out the measures employers are required to take to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus (COVID19) in workplaces.

The direction is in terms of Regulation 10 (8) of the Regulations issued by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in terms of Section 27 (2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002.

“The direction seeks to ensure that the measures taken by employers under the Occupational Health and Safety Act are consistent with the overall national strategies and policies to minimise the spread of COVID-19.

“The direction reflects all that we have learnt about the virus and how to combat it over the period of the lockdown, and from international best practice,” explained the Minister.

“Businesses that are re-opening must put these measures in place before restarting work,” he added.

Employers are expected to put in place measures to protect the health and safety of everyone in their workplace, including employees of contractors, self-employed persons and volunteers.

Clear plan

The process starts with a risk assessment in the workplace and a clear plan to implement the measures contained in the direction, which states that every employer must:

• Notify workers of the contents of the direction and how it will be implemented.

• They must inform employees that if they have COVID-19 symptoms they must not be at work and grant paid sick leave or apply for COVID-19 Temporary Eemployer/ Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) benefits. benefits.

• The employer must appoint a manager (from within the existing structure) to address the concerns of employees and workplace representatives.

• They must take measures to minimise the contact between workers and the public to prevent transmission.

• They must minimise the number of workers in the workplace at any time through shift or working arrangements to achieve social distancing.

• The employer must provide employees with information

concerning COVID-19 and how to prevent its transmission.

• They must report any diagnosis of COVID-19 at work to the Department of Health and the Department of Employment and Labour, investigate the cause, and take appropriate measures. It is a contravention not to do so as an employer.

• They must support any contact tracing measures initiated by the Department of Health.

With regard to social distancing, the Minister said workplaces must be arranged to ensure a minimum of 1.5m between workers.

“If this is not practicable, physical barriers must be erected and workers must be supplied free of charge with appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).”Social distancing must be implemented in all common areas in and of the workplace to prevent.

Employers must also screen workers for symptoms of COVID-19 at the time that they report for work, namely: fever, cough, sore throat, redness of eyes or shortness of breath (or difficulty in breathing); body aches, loss of smell or loss of taste, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue, weakness or tiredness.

“Workers should immediately inform the employer if they experience any symptoms while at work. Not doing so is a contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) by the worker.

More importantly, the worker puts themselves – and their co-workers – at risk.”

Workers with symptoms must be placed in isolation and arrangements made for their safe transport for a medical examination or for self-isolation.

Employers are also expected to provide sufficient quantities of hand sanitiser with at least 70 percent alcohol content. They must ensure thatat work surfaces, equipment and common areas such as toilets, door r handles and shared d equipment are regularly cleaned eaned and disinfected. Employers must provide facilities for hand washing with soap and clean water and sufficient paper towels.

All workers must wear masks and members of the public entering a workplace are also expected to do so.

“Employers must provide each employee, free of charge, with at least two cloth masks to wear while at work or commuting. There must be suitable arrangements for washing and drying masks. The employer remains responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of PPEs.”

Inspections

Labour inspectors will to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the direction and any employer who does not comply with it may be ordered to close their business.

“As the failure to comply fully with the OHSA is a criminal offence, failure to take the necessary measures to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 may reresult in criminal prosecuttion,” said the Minister.

The department's IInspection and Enforcemment Service unit condducted inspections at 2 789 workplaces throughout the country between 30 April and 8 May.

It found that 1 237 organisations were not compliant with the OHSA and issued 1 463 notices, including 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.

The department is gearing up for more inspections as more organisations increase their operations and more employees gradually return to work.

Unemployment Insurance Fund

One of the department's major tasks during the lockdown has been to repurpose the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to facilitate the flow of benefit payments to mitigate the effects of lay-offs.

The introduction of the COVID-19 TERS and massive increase in claims required that the department completely redesign the architecture and supporting systems of the UIF claims process.

This saw the UIF shifting from individual walk-in claims to mass distribution hubs through online applications supported by the call centre for enquiries.

Minister Nxesi said the UIF has now started paying workers directly in their bank accounts instead of through employers only.

“What this means is that workers do not have to wait until employers transfer their benefits to their accounts.

“While the claim is submitted by the employer who would have all the information that is pertinent to make the payments, the actual payment goes straight to the account of the e worker thus eliminating further waitting period.” ”

The departrtment is ablee to process payments within 48 hours.

The Minister's quest to ensure that vulnerable workers benefit from the CVOID-19 TERS has benefited domestic workers, who have been being paid directly.

By the middle of May, UIF figures showed that 14 113 domestic workers had benefited from the special lockdown benefit to the tune of R55 572 870.00.

A further 10 092 employers lodged claims on behalf of domestic workers.

“Certainly, we are beginning to ensure that the spirit and letter of our intervention is reaching the most vulnerable of our society. While we are happy that the efforts are beginning to bear fruit, we are worried that this still represents a drop in the ocean in terms of domestic workers on our systems whose number is almost a million.

“We need more employers of domestic workers to apply on their behalf so that they benefit from the relief scheme that government availed to ensure that we mitigate the worst effects of the lockdown,” said Minister Nxesi.

The department is also going through its database to reach out to farm workers who are also vulnerable groups.

Between 16 April and the middle of May, the UIF distributed R13.3 billion to 2 401 973 workers.