When an injury, or fatality occurs, you need to get help FAST!

 

All injuries or fatalities has to be reported to the Dept of Labour as fast as possible, see General Administrative Regulations Sec 9. And even when you do not report it, remember the person who got injured can report this, his family or friends can report it, your other staff may report it, or even a member of the public. And none of the outcomes are good. - Apart from penalties, Imprisonment for upto 12 months are set out by Sec 12 (a) + (c) of same Regulations. 

 

Incident and Accident investigations are a critical process, inches away from courts, fines and even prosecution. This is the one area in which you do not want the help from anyone but an expert. In terms of Sec 22 (3) (b) of Act 130 of 1993, the employer may be held liable for any or all medical expenses incurred by an employee or the COID fund. This is especially true when it is found that the employer was negligent - As was proven in the Constitutional Court Case of Mankayi vs Anglo Gold Ashanti  compliance or failure to take reasonable steps would constitute negligence.

 

Rightfully so, the Act is aimed at ensuring that an accident or loss of live does not bring unreasonable hardships to the injured or his family. That is only fair. However, it can also result in negligence on behalf of the employee, which may well leave the employer in an exposed state financially, and this should for part of any investigation into the process. Where accidents or fatalities happen as a result of employee negligence, or pure accident, then the employer should not be held at ransom if he or she did take all reasonably practical steps as required by law to avoid the incident. Incident can easily result in an "end-of business-event".

While the employer has some protection in the form of COID with the injury of an employee, when it comes to visitors or members of the public on your site, the situation is even more critical. Business owners often live in a false sense of safety and plan on relying on their public liability insurance in event of a client or someone else getting hurt on their premises. Fact is, the insurance house will do the exact same due diligence investigation on whether all reasonable and practical steps had been taken by the business owner beforehand. Read the fine print on your policy. The insurance house will be entitled to, and make us of the OHS Complaince under the ex lege term in contract law, or as was further defined by Prof AJ Kerr from Rhodes University in what has become known as Kerr's Classification. Both of which will see your claim rejected. Should it be found that no reasonable steps were taken to avoid injury, then your insurance house will in all likelihood decline any an all claims made under such policy. Leaving you fully exposed to the lawsuits to follow.

| the injured employee | 

| the injured visitor or client|