Article by Michael Zano TG1 Communications Co-Convenor
Occupational health and safety (OH&S) is well-established in developed countries, but that has not been the case in some developing nations. Southern Africa has been on the back foot on this matter, with South Africa taking the lead with the Occupational Health and Safety Act in 1993, replacing the Machinery and Occupational Safety Act of 1983. Of late, other Southern African nations have been trying to catch up, but with little progress.
The advent of COVID-19 revealed significant gaps in workplaces that did not have an OH&S management system in place. The organizations with OH&S systems struggled to adjust to the new world order of COVID-19 rules, but it was far worse of for those without a structured system. Government departments, state-owned organizations and private companies were caught off guard. Many organizations did not have qualified OH&S practitioners to coordinate and advise on issues of health and safety at work. Read more...