PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
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FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 1586
DATE SUBMITTED:
MR J SELFE (DA) TO ASK THE MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
(1) Whether all offices and sites of her Department and entities
reporting to her adhere to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act
No 85 of 1993) if not, why not; if so, when;
(2) Which facility fail to adhere to the Act, where are they situated,
what aspects of the Act does each such facility not comply with and
action has been taken in each case, if so what are the relevant details
(a) How often should each facility be inspected and when last was each
facility inspected?
NW1992E
REPLY
1. The Department of Correctional Services complies with the
Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act No 85 of 1993) in terms of the
following provisions:
i) Section 16 which empowers the National Commissioner as the Chief
Executive Officer of the Department to appoint all the Regional
Commissioners and Area Commissioners to ensure that OHS is properly
discharged in the department in terms of section 16(2) and the
appointment letters are available.
ii)
The department also adheres to section 17(1) of the OHS Act in that
70 % of the Health and Safety Representatives from the total number
required have been appointed in writing throughout the country. In
terms of legislation the ratio is 1:100 for office and 1:50 for
workshop and the department has adopted 1:50 for both office and
workshop in order to create more capacity to improve compliance
with the Act. To this end 1764 statutory appointees such as Health
and Safety Representatives, First Aiders in terms of General Safety
Regulation and Fire Fighters as part of good practice have been
appointed in writing. A total of 50% Statutory Appointees namely
Health and Safety Representatives 10%, First Aiders 20% and Fire
Fighters 20% have been trained,
iii) The Department has established Levels 1, 2 and 3 Occupational,
Health and Safety Committees in line with section 19 of the Act in
all regions and Head Office. These committees hold meetings but not
as regularly as required due to financial constraints and lack of
training in others. Level 1 is the OHS meeting at centre level,
Level 2 OHS meeting at Management Area and level 3 is the OHS
meeting at Regional level. The department has also established the
OHS Management Committee which is repsoble to provide support and
address technical issues raised by Committees at all levels. This
committee meets on a quarterly basis.
iv) The department has completed occupational hygiene risk assessment
and medical surveillance as a pilot project at Pollsmoor Management
Area (October, 2008) as part of compliance with the relevant
Regulations of the OHS Act (Detail report is available).
v) Due to high prevalence of TB and overcrowding in the correctional
centers, the department has proactively conducted TB Screening
between January and September 2009 for 744 officials who were
allegedly exposed to TB.
vi) Health and Safety Representatives are expected to inspect the
facilities in their areas on a monthly basis and the OHS
Coordinators should inspect the facilities on a quarterly basis.
The Health and Safety inspections are conducted periodically by
Health and Safety Representatives, all the OHS Coordinators in the
regions and Inspectors throughout the country. For instance,
inspections have been completed in 2009 for the following areas:
⪠Head Office building,
⪠Pretoria Management Area, Official Accommodations for unmarried
officials and Kwaggasrand,
⪠Zonderwater and Kroonstaad Training Colleges,
⪠Bethal Management Area,
⪠Witbank uniform warehouse,
⪠Goodwood Management Area
⪠Umtata Management Area and
⪠Waterval Management Area
2. The department recognizes the complexity of the legislation and the
resultant difficulties with which compliance with the OHS in some areas is
not achieved due to a number of reasons. These noncompliance issues relate
to maintenance of the buildings and hygiene standards, and the regularity
of the occupational hygiene risk assessment and medical surveillance. The
department also is confronted with financial difficulties which compromises
compliance in some instances such as occupational health risk assessment
for each site which must be conducted once every 24 months, and accredited
training for statutory appointees by recognized institutions.
(a) Consequently, all facilities are not 100% compliant to the OHS Act and
the department (July- September 2009) was at 43% compliant level. The
department has identified OHS as one of the risk areas that have to be
mitigated and progress on mitigation is reported quarterly to the Risk
Management Committee.