The Department of Employment and Labour claims two of every five workplaces are not complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA)
This follows the department’s inspection and enforcement service (IES) unit conducting 2 789 inspections from April 30 to May 8. During the inspections, 1 237 were found not complying to the necessary regulations.
Read more: Lockdown Level 4: What employers need to know as they prepare to resume business
This resulted in the department issuing 1436 notices to employers, including contravention, improvement and prohibition notices.
Of the workplaces inspected, 411 inspections were conducted at government and state-owned enterprises. At these workplaces, the rate of compliance was at 50%.
The department claims it is concerned about the lack of compliance among employers, since the introduction of lockdown level 4.
It says that the lack of compliance shows that the lessons learned over the first 30 days of the lockdown, have not impacted organisations which began their operations on May 1.
Inspector General, Aggy Moiloa claims it is shocking that many organisations are still struggling to comply with the OHS Act.
The Department is gearing up for more inspections, as more employees prepare to gradually start working again.
