Author:albert-mushai

Contextualising the recent COIDA amendment 30th May 2023 Workers’ compensation has a long history, both in South Africa and abroad. Despite this long legislative history, the current Workers’ Compensation Act – governed in South Africa by the Compensation for Occupational Diseases Act (COIDA) of 1993 – has not often been amended, until now. In this article, our columnists take a look at the background of this amendment. It is useful to first record the legislative history of the Workers’ Compensation […]

Are there other options out there? 28th Mar 2023 Against the backdrop of increasing unreliability of government services, thought should be given to finding alternative arrangements to those provided by government. Are there other potential options to state provided workers’ compensation? As things stand, regular reports are suggesting that the Compensation Fund – a state entity responsible for insuring employees injured at work – is no longer as efficient as it used to be in providing this service. Reports of […]

Eskom’s failure in the grand scheme of things 27th Feb 2023 That Eskom has failed should be clear to all, including those who do not even care to look. South Africa is now permanently facing multiple sessions of daily loadshedding. Clearly, under these circumstances, it is easy to get lost in detailed accusations and lose sight of the bigger picture. The failure of Eskom must, however, be contextualised within a wider framework. What stands at the heart of this bigger […]

Vexing questions 30th Sep 2022 Over the past year or so, like most people, we have been preoccupied with the Covid-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, most of our contributions over this period focused on this subject, and rightly so. The pandemic brought to the fore the good and the bad sides of government and society at large. Now that the pandemic has shown strong signs of easing, it is perhaps an opportune moment to comment on other subjects of interest as we […]

Mandatory vaccinations – a turning tide? 1st Aug 2022 It is not surprising that the Covid crisis is abating, but will the call for mandatory vaccinations follow? In South Africa, the enforcement mechanism for mandatory vaccinations did not come directly from an Act of Parliament, nor government decrees, but via employers. The message became clear: employees must be vaccinated or face the prospect of being fired. Some companies did, indeed, fire employees. Another employment enforcement mechanism came in the form […]

Covid-19 still vexing occupational health 14th Jun 2022 When Covid-19 was first detected in March 2020, it was feared that the pandemic would be another 1918 Spanish Flu or worse. In 1918, however, South Africa lost 3,5% of its population over a six-week period due to that pandemic, with 81 000 people dying per day in this time. While Covid-19 isn’t a repeat of the Spanish Flu, it has still had devastating effects As indicated in previous articles, Covid-19 has had […]

Covid: a legal game changer? 8th Apr 2022 We seem to now be part of a new dispensation – one not governed by the common law, nor by Parliamentary laws. This is a strange new world; indeed, this is a game changer. The truth of the matter is that society seems to increasingly be operating outside of the law, and much of this is being enforced by employers. Recently, a government official declared that after the state of disaster has […]

Mandatory Covid mandates: US Supreme Court speaks 8th Feb 2022 The question of employers imposing mandatory Covid-19 mandates is very topical right now. Typically, employers take the stance that because they are necessary for occupational health and safety reasons, it is their duty to impose these mandates. Spreading around the world, this notion has also reached South Africa. US President Joe Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and White House adviser on communicable diseases Anthony Fauchi are all on […]

Statutory risk control and Covid-19 13th Dec 2021 The first step of any statutory risk control programme is to identify the relevant regulations. Sadly, this is where the problem starts. Since regulations are laws, it should be easy to find a way to ensure compliance … In reality, though, it’s far from easy Tom Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, was invited by Cambridge University to deliver a lecture on a subject of […]

Confined spaces at heights 15th Oct 2021 What are the complications of applying risk control principles to the problems stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic? Dr Albert Mushai and Professor Robert Vivian address the issues. Historically, the earliest approach to dealing with accidents and diseases was via legislation – in particular, regulations applicable to things. Consequently, extensive regulations, such as machinery regulations, came into being to deal with things. More controversially, legislation then expanded to cover issues, such as conditions of […]