Over the last few weeks, the South African government has implemented several guidelines surrounding the management of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist in mitigating the further spread of the virus. It was not until recently that several other government ministries incorporated some of the guidelines into legislation making it a legal requirement for businesses and employers to enforce and incorporate guidelines within their working environment to remain compliant.

Today we take a look at some of these items of legislation, and how Alignment Consulting is available to assist you and your business in implementing policies and procedures that will ensure your business’ compliance to the law.

Building and Office Compliance for COVID-19

On 28 April 2020, the Department of Employment and Labour released a final directive concerning health and safety in the workplace. The regulation drafted is in line with the Occupational Health and Safety Act as well as the Disaster Management Act as a guideline to ensure job readiness and safety concerning the COVID- 19 Pandemic. To view the updated release, see references below this blog*

Sufficient sanitizers and disinfectants become the responsibility of the employer to provide (free of charge) based on the number of workers or other persons who access the workplace at the entrance of and in, the workplace.

Some of the other prescribed measures include administrative requirements, social distancing, symptom screening and ventilation. Much of these administrative tasks also include the requirement of businesses to make available educational material, information and risk management procedures on COVID-19.   Risk management reports will need to be submitted to authorities as proof that the business has implemented the required guidelines to maintain the validity of the building’s occupational health and safety certificate.

Failure to meet the above-mentioned requirements may lead to the temporary suspension of business operations, the lockdown of the building by health and safety officials, and in some cases lead to a substantial fine issued to the business by the government. Therefore, it is recommended that businesses and employers implement the required policies to bring their health and safety practises up to code to avoid significant financial losses.

Updating your disciplinary code and code of conduct

Businesses should also consider the fact that the directive issued by the Department of Employment and Labour now means that employees are also expected to act in accordance with the health and safety guidelines. Ideally, the business should update their existing policies procedures and disciplinary code. 

It should also be noted that employers can, in fact, restrict access to the premises to ensure compliance with the new regulations. Every employer must ensure that social distancing measures are implemented through supervision both in the workplace and in the common areas outside the immediate workplace through queue control or within the workplace such as canteens and restrooms. These measures may include dividing the workforce into groups or staggering break-times to avoid the concentration of workers in common areas. Further to that, the Department of Health requires that all persons wear cloth masks when in a public place. 

If visitors to the workplace or the employees of the workplace fail to comply with the measures prescribed access to the workplace can be denied to visitors & disciplinary action can be implemented for non-complying employees. The degree of negligence will determine the severity of the outcome which may lead to the dismissal of the non-complying employee.  

It is legally required that you update your HR Policies & Procedures to be COVID-19 compliant

Now more than ever, it is required for businesses to make changes to their policies and procedures to be in line with COVID-19 regulations, sound labour practices and health and safety standards. To ensure that these measures are correctly created and implemented, contact Alignment Consulting to help you draft and action these policies.

We are happy to set up online consultations via Skype, Zoom or teleconference to assist you.

*See below links to the updated regulations:

• COVID-19 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES IN WORKPLACES COVID-19 (C19 OHS), 2020