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Johannesburg - Immediate health and safety intervention is needed in the iron and steel industries after R194m was paid in compensation claims for the 2011/2012 financial year, the labour department said on Wednesday.
"The rise in incidences and fatalities was becoming a nightmare for the Compensation Fund," said director of Inspection and Enforcement Services, Jacob Malatse.
In the last four years, an average of R260m was paid out, with R263m paid for workplace incidents in 2008/2009; in 2009/2010 more than R265m was paid and in 2010/11, claims were valued at R321m.
Revealing these figures at the signing of an Iron and Steel Accord in Boksburg, Malatse said proper compliance with health and safety drove the economy and if claims were reduced, more jobs could be created.
The accord commits all social partners to the prevention of risks related to occupational injuries and diseases and promotes occupational health and safety, as well as meaningful dialogue on the subject.
In the light of the last four years' claims, the department has stepped up its "blitz" inspections.
In the 2011/12 year it found that of 1 058 inspections conducted in the iron and steel sectors, only 522 employers complied with legislation.
The blitzes focused in the high iron and steel concentrated industries in the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng Province, Mpumalanga, North West and the Eastern Cape.
Inspectors found that Gauteng and the Eastern Cape-based industries were the least non-compliant with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act.
The act itself was currently under review and once amended, would allow inspectors to impose stiffer fines.
The iron and steel sector together with chemical, transport, agriculture and forestry, building and construction, and the foods, drink and tobacco industries are among the sectors that have been identified by the department's Inspection and Enforcement Services Unit as "high risk" sectors for injury that will receive special attention.
The department's chief director for statutory and advocacy services, Virgil Seafield, said the department would not have enough inspectors to inspect each and every factory floor as this would cost too much.
"There has to be a realisation that voluntary compliance in the enforcement of safety regimes is of paramount importance. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure compliance with OHS," he said.
