GALOOME SHOPANE
The Labour Department has warned employers about taking their employees’ lives for granted. This comes after Magic Plant Hire, a construction company used sewerage water to suppress dust and for mixing damp rock in Welkom. The provincial spokesperson for labour, Wisani Mavaso says this act posed hazard to workers and members of the community.
“An employer of a company called Magic Plant Hire was caught using sewage water, community members were complaining that the water was smelling really bad. He he fetched the water with water trunks at the sewage dam at the municipality. What we also found out was that the employer did not even have a letter of good standing to accommodate compensation of personal injuries and diseases,” says Mabasa
Mabasa says the employer was immediately issued with a prohibition notice to stop using the sewage water.
According to Mabasa the employer was also given a list of contraventions for not reporting the assumption of contraction work in the area to the Department, an expired Letter of good standing for Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA), expired certificate for grader operator, hazard risk assessments not available on site, induction training for workers on the risks on site not conducted, no first aider certificate on site, as well as health and safety representatives not appointed in writing.
Magic Plant Hire has been given two weeks to comply with the labour requirements or face further steps in terms of the law.
