A workshop organised by the Department of Labour (DoL) today (February 29) announced in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape that it has adopted a document that will help serve as a guideline on risk assessment for the iron and steel sector.
Department of Labour’s Assistant Director: Occupational Health and Safety Alfred Cakata said the document has been prepared to assist employers to conduct effective risk assessment in the workplace.
"For South Africa to have an effective and safe work environment it requires joint commitment from government, labour and business. The document provides simple steps which are required to be undertaken to identify and prevent hazards in the workplace,"Cakata said.
Cakata said employers have an obligation to report incidents occurring in their workplaces for investigation purpose and report them with the Compensation Fund for adjudication. He said although risks were varied and diverse the document seeks to cater for those differences in the workplace.
The DoL workshop was attended by delegates who include inspectors, representatives from Fedusa, Solidarity, Seifsa, and Numsa among others. The document is expected to come in handy especially for small business involved in the high risk sector of iron and steel sector.
The Risk Assessment Guidelines document for the Iron and Steel Industry in South Africa entails the process of evaluating risks to safety and health arising from hazards in the work environment and it forms an integral part of a health and safety management system in any organisation.
According to the document this process forms the basis of the employer’s responsibility towards his workers as contemplated in Section 8 of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, 85 of 1993. It is also an essential process to organisations that are serious about protecting their business.
The adopted document highlights a number of core elements among them are:
- OHS Policy - OHS performance be treated as an integral part of the business performance and commitment to comply with relevant OHS Laws and regulations.
- Risk Assessment Core Elements – though the document is not prescriptive of the risk assessment model to be employed by an organisation but, for the risk assessment process to be effective the following four steps are critical: (1) hazard identification,(2) risk assessment, (3) control of risk, (4) and the evaluation of steps 1- 3.
- Hazard Identification - the identification of hazards in the workplace should take into account the following: circumstances within the work processes that have a potential to result in injuries or illness, nature of injuries or illness that might arise from the activities, products and services, and past injuries, incidents and diseases.
- Risk Assessment – a process used to determine the level of risk of injury or illness associated with each identified hazard, for the purpose of control. The risk assessment process should take into account the likelihood and severity of injury or illness from the identified hazard.
- Risk Control - unless a particular hazard is removed, the risk associated with such a hazard can never be completely eliminated. The approach most commonly used is referred to as a hierarchy of control, from preferred, to least desirable as follows – elimination, substitutions, engineering controls, administrative controls and, personal protective equipment.
- Legal Compliance - Compliance with legal requirements will ensure adequate control of exposure to hazardous conditions and eliminate hazards or risks to health and safety in the workplace.
DoL Deputy-Director: Inspection and Enforcement Livingstone Matiwane said the adoption of the draft today was a part of a continuation of a process started last year. Matiwane said the publishing of the document was a giant step taking in taking forward the process to get a broader buy-in.
"We intend to go into other province for further inputs. We realise that there is a sizeable stakeholder absence especially from the employer subsection. We want to see more employers submitting their comment as far as possible. We do not want to comment on people’s behalf, but want to involve all stakeholders. We will use the product as a launching pad to seek further comment," said Matiwane.
Enquiries:
Vuyokazi Mbanjwa
Tel: 043 701 3079
Fax: 086 699 3742
Cell: 082 889 3936
E-mail: vuyokazi.mbanjwa@labour.gov.za
