Improving plight of injured workers
Employers and the Department of Labour need to ensure injuries are avoided rather than managed
THIS Compensation Fund was set up to help avoid injuries in the workplace and to ensure that those who are injured would receive an amount of money to pay for their medical expenses and the first three months worth of their salary.
Furthermore, the fund would investigate with the individuals who were left permanently disabled by their injuries and would award certain payments in accordance with fixed criteria.
The inspectors investigate all injuries in the workplace, and they inspect workplaces to assess how the injuries happened.
The Department of Labour can also pursue prosecutions against the business and, if necessary against the directors of the business.
The Compensation Fund has been notoriously dysfunctional and over the past 20 years many individuals have complained about the lack of service, the lack of response and the lack of payment. Many businesses are still complaining about the non-responsive attitude of the fund’s staff and the administration.
The new commissioner of the Compensation Fund is trying to overcome the enormous backlog which he inherited and has put into place new systems to create a more functional and responsive department.
I receive complaints, queries and pleas for help from the public daily. Once I have written to the commissioner, I get timeous responses but one would expect the public to get timeous responses themselves without having to resort to direct complaints to the commissioner himself.
People who have been injured at work or travelling to and from work do have the state insurance of the Compensation Fund and do expect to at least be covered for their injuries.
Once this expectation is not met it is easy to understand that the public express enormous negativity. This
negativity has to be tackled and overcome as soon as possible.
Investigations have taken place with regard to the top 20 injuries in the workplace and the fund is doing its utmost to see why these injuries occurred, how they occurred and in what way can these be avoided in the future.
For instance, a recent investigation conducted by the Department of Labour over the past few months shows that there were 1360 right hand injuries reported and 500 right arm injuries.
We have also been given the statistics which show the food retail sector had reported 13 327 injuries over the past few months which was more than other industries.
Forestry had almost 10 000 injuries. I am aware that the department is investigating the forestry and food retail sector about the high number of injuries.
Also, one particular retail group has had far more injuries than any other.
There were more injuries to male workers than female workers and most of the injuries occurred in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
The inspectorate of the Department of Labour did respond immediately with regard to this retail group. Officals visited the senior management and discussed the types of injuries and the ways of avoiding them in the future.
The retail group was given a presentation on their performance in relation to the Compensation Fund figures compared to other companies in the same sector. That presentation was made available to the senior management of that company.
In essence it is the duty of the employers and the department to ensure that injuries are avoided rather than managed.
The department has promised to train and employ more inspectors and has conducted blitz inspections over the past few months. They are planning follow-ups in the near future.
The department has promised to investigate smaller companies as well as large companies throughout the country.
Obviously, Workmen’s Compensation must work closely with the occupational health and safety inspectorate and the legislation.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act outlines the general duties of the employer and self-employed persons.
The larger the company the more onerous it is as it has a duty to have health and safety committees and health and safety representatives.
There are well structured regulations on how injuries have to be reported and how diseases have to be reported.
There are general safety regulations in place such as first aid and emergency equipment, work in confined spaces and work in elevated positions.
There are certain thermal requirements and lighting requirements including proper ventilation.
One of the most important issues is fire precautions and means of escape.
Staff should always have access to sanitation, drinking water and fair and reasonable facilities.
Hopefully with the department is moving towards prevention rather than cure and we will see better terms and conditions for staff across all industries.