Gov't Misses Target
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday April 1, 2019 14:53
Mabeo said the companies were inspected with regards to occupational health and safety for the period of April 2018 to January 2019. “These inspections were carried out to assess the standards of safety, health and welfare of employees and determine level of compliance to the factories Act cap 44:01 by such workplaces,” Mabeo said when presenting recurrent and development budget proposals to the committee of supply.
“The average compliance level stands at 61.3%. Common contraventions identified were failure to examine of passenger lifts and inadequate provision of personal protective equipment and clothing.”
Mabeo added that investigations were conducted on occupational accidents, injuries or diseases for prevention or reoccurrence of such.
A total of 33 accidents were reported from April 2018 to January 2019, 29 in the construction sector out of which two were fatal, and the remaining four were from the manufacturing sector.
He said from April 2018 to January 2019, 991 cases were registered for compensation as a result of injuries incurred and occupational diseases contacted in line of duty or for the death related to such injuries or diseases.
“In addition, 1,970 cases were brought from the previous years, bringing the total number of cases to 2,961. Of these, 886 cases registered were from government and 2,075 were from other sectors. A total of 584 claims were settled out of the 2,961 claims. Settlement rate of these cases at 19.7%, depicting low settlement.”
He said benefits paid out to the 584 claims settled amounted to P15, 424,937.89 and out of this amount government paid P4, 766,435 to settle 138 claims out of 886 registered cases and the remain sectors have settled 446 claims out of a total of 2,075 at a cost of P10, 658,502.89.
He told Parliament that the draft national occupational health and safety policy has been finalised and was referred by Cabinet for further consultation with the Ministry of Health and wellness.