On 17 March 2020, the Department of Employment and Labour issued guidelines to deal with COVID-19 at workplaces.
In summary, the Department reminds employers to:
- be cognizant of the prescriptions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and the applicable regulations in safeguarding their workplaces;
- review and regularly update risk assessments, taking into account the new hazards posed by exposure to COVID-19;
- prepare as far in advance as possible for potentially worsening outbreak conditions; and
- ‘go back to basics’: conduct hazard identification and risk assessment, determine the level of risk exposure, and communicate with employees.
The complete article is available on the Bowmans website.