Tag: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Employee safety falls under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act. This legislation holds employers responsible for maintaining a safe working environment. Under the Act, businesses have a legal obligation to implement effective protocols. These protocols must ensure a swift and organised response in the event of an emergency.

Workplace health and safety should never be a tick-box exercise in construction. When given the proper care and attention, health and safety practices keep workers safe, help projects stay within budget and timelines, and can have a substantial impact on companies’ bottom-lines.

Most mid-sized to large organisations in South Africa have made significant investments in IP-based surveillance systems, with a heavy focus on detecting and preventing crime. From warehouses, factory floors and offices to shops and parking lots, organisations have blanketed their properties with digital cameras for security reasons.

It can be challenging to assemble a reliable, skilled workforce to run large-scale construction projects in rural locations. Often companies need to source and relocate skilled labour from other parts of the country or from within their company to meet project-specific needs.

As the South African government looks for solutions to the country’s electricity crisis, significant emphasis has been placed on households and businesses investing in solar panels as a way of reducing the pressure on the national power grid.

Proposed amendments to the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) place greater obligations on employers, which is to be welcomed in some respects, but other amendments are problematic and may be open to legal challenge.

On 4 April 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the National State of Disaster would be lifted with effect from 00:00 on 5 April 2022. One of the effects of this is that the Code of Good Practice: Managing Exposure to SARS-COV-2 in the Workplace (Code) became effective on 5 April 2022.

The rapid change in retail and trade networks caused by the global pandemic has highlighted how logistics – and air logistics in particular – is crucial to the economy. The first wave of lockdowns brought an urgent need for personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, gowns, and face shields, as well as sanitising products.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world implemented national lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. As a result, borders were closed to passengers but specified cargo and retail goods for certain essential products and supplies were permitted.

Reports of alleged corruption plaguing the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS), one of the vehicles being touted to administer the National Health Insurance (NHI) should not come as a surprise. We note with concern these reports, and stresses to both government and citizens the crucial lesson that must be learned from this scandal.