Tag: essential services

As email inboxes and WhatsApp groups clutter up with advice of how to cope with COVID-19, I suggest three simple questions to help guide consumers in these unprecedented times. The best way to reduce premiums during lockdown – without abandoning cover altogether - is to reassess risk exposures and adjust cover accordingly.  

Responsible leadership has taken on an even deeper meaning, as our workforces and our customers find themselves in an unfamiliar, fast-moving global environment. COVID-19 has changed the way we live and work already, with far-reaching impact.

The global economy has been disrupted severely by the outbreak of the coronavirus, also referred to as COVID-19. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the virus originated in the city of Wuhan in the province of Hubei, in China around December 2019.

Nationally, on 1 May 2020, South Africa will move from its current position at level 5 to level 4. This means that all essential services will be able to continue operating together with the following additional sectors: food retail stores will be permitted to sell full line of products, agriculture, forestry, mining, financial and professional services, postal and telecommunications services, information technology services and formal waste recycling services.

On 9 April 2020, the Government issued Notice 43224, Regulation 459, effective as of 9 April 2020 which provides directions regarding the operation of Essential Service Call Centres during the Lockdown Period. 

As the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown nears the end of its initial deadline, businesses across the country have had to review the way that they communicate with their employees. With the diminished in-person contact that employers now have with their workforce, it is vital to have a system in place that ensures staff are equipped with the right information in order to stay safe, remain engaged with their companies, and be prepared for work to resume.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen all businesses, save essential services, asking their employees to work from home, in an effort to practice social distancing and lessen the impact of the virus. Remote working is effective on multiple levels.

Since the final lockdown regulations were only circulated late afternoon on 25 March 2020, and the registration of companies for essential services was reported to commence on 26 March 2020, the potential for perceived non-compliance with the lockdown regulations does exist as companies may not have sufficient time to comply.

Essential services refer to those services that, if interrupted, would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or any part of the population. Once a service is declared as an essential service, employees working in such services may not engage in strike action.