Sell your labour not your healthThe lives, health and safety
of workers must be top priority
By Jaqueline Mpolokeng, COSATU
Health and Safety Co-ordonator
COSATU had targeted October 2001 to highlight the importance of occupational
health and safety. The month was chosen to remind ourselves of the Kinross
mine disaster on 1 October 1987 where 177 workers died after a disastrous
fire.
Since then, it has become important to
have a concerted and co-coordinated effort to address the issue of occupational
health and safety, to prevent accidents, injuries and diseases and to
compensate and rehabilitate workers who fall victim to occupational
accidents and diseases.
Occupational accidents are costly. For
example in 1996 the cost to the South African economy was R17 billion
- 3.5% of South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product. They also directly
affect workers’ families, who lose their loved ones and breadwinners
and the workers themselves, who suffer from lost jobs.
We are emerging gradually from the legacy
of the apartheid labour market, under which apartheid employers cared
little about the health and safety of their workers. The lives of black
workers, especially in mining, were expendable.
Where employers were found guilty, the
penalties did not measure to the magnitude of the crime.
For example, in the Kinross saga the company was fined a ridiculous
sum which totalled R1 per worker.
Since the advent of democracy, there has
been progress with new legislation on health and safety at work including
in the mining industry. While we have made important strides at the
level of legislative reform, the sad reality is that health and safety
at work is still not regarded as a priority.
For this reason the union movement must
take the issue of health and safety in our hands. As the slogan for
the campaign says: "Sell your Labour not Your Health".
Occupational incidents – deadly statistics
Statistics from the Department of Labour
only go up to 1996, so we do not have any information from 1996 to date.
Anglo American however reports that during 2000 39 employees from their
workforce of 105 000 and 21 contractors lost their lives due to the
company ignoring health and safety laws.
The mining industry as a whole experienced
2 525 accidents, 2 461 injuries and 146 deaths between January and June
2001. According to a 1999 United Nations report, 2264 mineworkers died
in accidents between 1994 and 1998. At least 1 500 workers die in work-related
accidents every year and about 4000 people per year are injured severely
while working, according to the Compensation Commissioner’s Report.
The Compensation Commissioner pays out workers’ claims in excess of
R933 million every year.
Many other workers are exposed to occupational
hazards and physical threats to their well-being. Workers are exposed
to chemicals’ which can damage their health and others work under damp,
cold or hot conditions.
Many other work places do not have proper
facilities, including basics like toilets and drinking water. Long distance
drivers work under appalling conditions – forced to drive for long hours,
which causes road accidents due to fatigue.
Recently 20 workers died when a bridge
collapsed in Bushbuckridge. Another six plunged to their death in Hillbrow
due to the improperly erected scaffolding equipment. Last year 11 workers
burnt to their death in the well-publicised incident in Lenasia.
These incidents must galvanise us to action!
All these injuries could have been prevented.
There is the law available to protect workers and strangely also
to protect any machinery within the workplace. Unfortunately workers
lose their limbs, fingers and even their lives, yet employers do not
take any precautions to rectify these hazards.
COSATU contends that occupational accidents
could be prevented if employers saw occupational health and safety as
a priority. Employers do not provide adequate protective clothing and
equipment, they fail to inform workers about hazards within their workplaces,
and they fail to train workers around health and safety issues.
Yet these incidents could be avoided if
the laws were fully implemented. Budget cuts to the Department of Labour
however have constrained its ability to proactively enforce the law.
Sadly, we as the unions are not actively making sure that employers
regard health and safety as a priority.
The legislative framework
The democratic government has passed laws
on occupational health and safety, setting out the obligations and rights
of the different role players: workers, employers and government.
The COSATU campaign emphasises the need
for preventing occupational accidents and diseases through a partnership
between employers, workers and the government to enforce these laws.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act
(OHSA) is our key weapon in ensuring that employers regard health and
safety as a key priority. The OHSA and related regulations make it clear
that the employers have a duty to protect workers and the onus in on
the employer to find out what health risks there are in the workplace.
The Act aims to get employers and workers involved in preventing
accidents and sickness.
The Compensation for Occupational Injuries
and Diseases Act provides workers or their families with financial compensation
for death or disablement caused by dangerous workplace conditions.
The Mine Health and Safety Act aims to
create work environment that is safe and healthy for workers in the
dangerous mining industry.
The legislative framework also gives us
rights as workers and employers cannot dismiss us for demanding the
right to:
