The Department of Labour has promised to step up the gear in its drive to ensure compliance with labour laws vowed to come up with even more stringent fines.
This was said at the Forestry seminar being held outside Whiteriver, Mpumalanga on Friday.
Tibor Szana Director: Occupational Health and Safety in the department said, whilst several employers have paid admission of fines this year, upping the penalty could send an even stronger message.
“The highest fine paid recently is R12 000 with other employers having being forced to fork out lesser amounts in the forestry and agricultural sectors. These resulted from more and more court cases in several provinces following blitz inspections,” he said.
Szana said he was pleased that the department was winning more court cases-attesting to the thoroughness with which labour inspectors executed their job.
He said the department will beef-up its training of inspectors to ensure that case do not fall within the cracks and that “we have airtight cases before going to court”.
At the same time, he reminded workers about the importance of health and safety in the workplace and their role in the process. He said workers should report any unsafe act or condition to their employer immediately to avert disaster.
Both parties, he said, should work with the department to ensure a healthy and safe workplace.
Szana said “if we come to a place and we realise there is an immediate danger to life and limb, we will shut up the operations until areas of concern have been corrected”.
The two days seminar, which ends today, is being attended by various government departments, forestry workers as well as stakeholders from business and organised labour.
Enquiries:
Tony Mphahlele
Cell: 079 986 9850
Tough times lie ahead for errant employers
