Tag: Shane Johnson

The Minister of Employment and Labour has published for comment a Draft Code of Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Code). The Code applies to all sectors (both public and private) in the formal and informal economy.

The Minister of Employment and Labour has issued a revised COVID-19 Direction on Health & Safety in the Workplace. The Direction applies to all workplaces except mines, ships, boats​ or cranes and any other workplace which is regulated by a different direction on health and safety.

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.

The Minerals Council South Africa (Minerals Council) has recently published its safety in mining fact sheet that summarises the state of safety in the South African mining industry for 2019. The Safety Mining Fact Sheet also highlights the recent commitments made in the mining industry to achieving zero harm across all mining operations in the country.

All employers, employees and trade unions will need to be aware of the Constitutional Court's recent Dunlop decision which has clarified much of the uncertainty around how derivative misconduct is applied in the workplace.

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.

At the beginning of March, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) released the Mine Health and Safety Statistics (statistics) for 2018​. The DMR compiles and publishes these statistics annually.We have analysed the statistics and highlight some important facts together with some interesting insights.