Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour urges employers to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and make it part of their culture to safeguard the lives of the employees and their businesses. 

The Deputy Minister of the Department of Employment and Labour, Jomo Sibiya urged employers to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS). This, he said would ensure more profitability, and efficiency and improve productivity in the workplace.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at the National OHS conference held by the Department’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) branch at the Protea Hotel, Klerksdorp in the North West Province. The conference started today, 26 February 2025 focusing on improving compliance in the Metal/Iron and Steel Sector.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister, said the OHS matters should be made part of each organisation’s culture. “An institution without culture will be chaotic, there will be no authority and people will do as they please. With culture there will be profitability, efficiency, and productivity” said Deputy Minister Sibiya.

The Conference is attended by about 400 delegates that include strategic stakeholders from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Organised Labour, Organised Business, and other specialists in the Iron and Steel Sector. They agreed that collaboration by all is key in ensuring compliance with the Labour Laws.

In addition, the Department through the Chief Inspector, Milly Ruiters shared the OHS Vision 2029 Strategy, which is a plan by the Department towards the realisation of zero injuries and diseases in workplaces. She also said for the Department to attain this vision, they have developed a plan based on the IES strategy and outcomes of the status of the OHS Report which was launched in July 2021. She said the strategy aims to address the poor working conditions and lack of compliance with Occupational Health and Safety Legislation.

“With this strategy, we aim to prevent incidents, injuries, and diseases. It provides a clear plan on the direction to be followed to change the current occupational health and safety landscape within the jurisdiction of the Department as it will guide the OHS community internally and externally” said, Ruiters.

This Conference started today, 26 February, and is scheduled to end on Friday, 28 February 2025. It will cover among others the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) Amendment Bill; Unemployment Insurance Fund Compliance; OHS international perspectives; snapshot of compliance in the Iron and Steel sector; OHS strategy; Violence and Harassment at the workplace Implications on OHS, Construction challenges in the Iron and Steel; Future of Major Hazardous Installations; Future of Engineers in the Iron and steel Sector, Importance of qualifications in the sector; National Code of Practice for Training Providers of Lifting Machine Operators; Electrical Machinery in Hazardous locations; Legal implications of Electrical Installations; Safe Handling of gases within the reticulation environment; Importance of inspection and tests of the pressure equipment and artificial intelligence and robotics in the iron and steel sector

For media enquiries contact:
Teboho Thejane Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 082 697 0694
E-mail: teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

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