STATE SEEKS LIFE INSURANCE FOR ITS WORKERS

THE government is looking to introduce a new life insurance scheme for its employees.

It has invited insurance companies to pitch various life insurance products to the Department of Public Service and Administration. This is part of the government’s review of the danger dispensation.

The invitation, which closed on August 19, indicated it was probing two scenarios – life insurance for employees who “experience a genuine risk to their lives” in the workplace, and life insurance products to cover all employees.

The department wanted the pitches to include the “estimated monthly cost per employee to purchase the product/product offering”.

The state has 1 244 852 employees and “approximately 0.32% of these employees are exposed to high-risk working environments such as maximum-security prisons”, according to the document.

It said 4.72% of employees are in medium-risk working environments and 95% are low risk.

But it appears in the end that only employees exposed to what the department calls “genuine risk to their lives” could benefit from the scheme.

The department’s document emphasised that in terms of a collective agreement in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, the employer shall pay a standard danger allowance to workers.

These include traffic inspectors, correctional officers guarding prisoners, nurses working with psychiatric patients, social workers working with prisoners and mine health and safety inspectors.

However, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) decried that teachers could be in the category of employees to be left out. The union’s general secretary Mugwena Malulele said teachers were also exposed to danger in classrooms.

“It’s worth discussing with the department to say how on earth are teachers that are being mauled not being included. We’re working in quite dangerous situations,” he said.

“Not everyone, but there’s evidence that teachers’ lives are always threatened. They are being attacked.

“About two weeks ago we had a principal that was attacked.”

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) welcomed that its members working in prisons are part of the employees earmarked for the scheme.

“You remember there was an incident at Sun City [Johannesburg Prison] two weeks ago whereby warders were stabbed,” said Popcru’s spokesman Richard Mamabolo.

Five prison warders suffered stab wounds two weeks ago.

At the time, Popcru said the officers were attacked when they intervened to stop a gang-related fight between inmates.

Inmates were also injured during the fight.

Dumisani Nkwamba, spokesman for the Department of Public Service and Administration, said the scheme would serve a different purpose from the compensation fund. “The compensation fund [caters] for everybody in the public service when they are injured on duty.

“However, we want to fill the gaps that are there when public servants are employed in high-risk areas,” he said.

“Two weeks ago warders were stabbed at Sun City