5 November 2007
Preliminary findings of the ongoing inspections have painted a picture of an
iron and steel industry fraught with high disregard of labour legislation
countrywide.
Launched on Monday, 29 October, the five-day blitz has so far confirmed the
sector's reputation as being among the country's occupational health and safety
high risk industries mainly through neglect.
Out of 329 workplaces visited as of yesterday, Thursday, 224 were found to
be flouting the law, with inspectors recording 262 various contraventions, and
instantly halting operations at 14 sites.
KwaZulu-Natal appears to be the worst province, with 59 of the 77 visited
workplaces not complying, prompting law enforcement officials to recommend
prosecution against at least one employer.
The Eastern Cape is the second worst, with only six of the 51 workplaces
visited found to be conforming to the legislation.
The iron and steel sector has always been on the radar screen since it was
identified, together with the construction, farming, and food and beverage, as
being among health and safety high risk industries in 2005.
At the time, high risk sectors were found to be contributing 22 percent of
accidents and, though reductions have been recorded at some of them, experts
still believe a fatality drop in the iron and steel sector would have a
considerable impact on others as well.
Commenting on the latest findings today, Labour Minister Membathisi
Mdladlana once again stressed the importance of workers playing a proactive
role in ensuring their own workplace safety.
"Safety is the responsibility of everyone. Every year we spend billions of
rand compensating injured workers through the Compensation Fund for accidents
that could have been easily avoided," he said.
"When injuries rise, production gets negatively affected causing profits to
go down, which then results in jobs getting lost," he said.
Enquiries:
Zolisa Sigabi
Tel: 082 906 3878
E-mail: zolisa.sigabi@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
5 November 2007
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za)
