Environmental Management Plan - Labour > Chapter 4 : Environmental Management Policies > 4.10. Compliance and Monitoring Procedures

The DOL's commitment to addressing the challenge of ensuring that the workplace is safe is explicitly stated in the Ministerial Programme of Action for the period, 2004-2009. Among the key points that have been highlighted in the Programme of Action, is to adequately deal with the negative consequences of occupational accidents and ill health on individuals, enterprises and the state. The Department has accelerated measures aimed at reducing accidents and improving the health and safety of workers, through achieving greater co-ordination of the occupational health and safety instruments of government.

The prioritisation of the Department with respect to safety in the work environment is evident in the DOL's commitment to enhance efforts aimed at the reduction of workplace accidents and fatalities. .A major preventative strategy has been launched, which includes public awareness programmes, training of stakeholders including health and safety representatives and cooperative enforcement programmes.

In addition, the Chief Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety has listed a set of priorities, which give effect to the aspect of worker safety. These are listed in Table 2.

Table 2: Priority actions for Department of Labour

Action	Responsibility	Timeframe
Develop effective OHS policies and legislation aligned with changes in the environment	Chief Inspector	ongoing
Review amendments to the OHSA with a view to national and regional harmonization	Chief Inspector	ongoing
Draft policies aimed at the protection of the health and safety of vulnerable workers – (especially within the agriculture, SMME’s and informal sectors)	Chief Inspector	ongoing
Develop an OHS awareness campaign	Chief Inspector	ongoing
Develop an EMP in accordance with the requirements of NEMA	Chief Inspector
Implement EMP	Branch : Corporate Services	ongoing
Monitor compliance of OHS Legislation	Branch : Service Delivery	ongoing

Inspection work is categorised as follows:

•	safety inspections, which include inspections of safety management systems, facilities, the working environment, machinery, diving work and explosives factories;

•	hazardous substance inspections for various substances, including asbestos and lead;

•	monitoring inspections for physical stress factors such as noise, thermal conditioning and lighting;

•	special safety inspections, which include inspection of vessels under pressure;

•	incident investigations;

•	inspections of registered entities and Approved Inspection Authority (AlA) inspections;

•	follow-up inspections, which are conducted to ensure compliance with requirements contained in notices served during previous inspections;

•	inspections to ensure basic compliance of other Labour legislation;

•	other inspections, which arise from complaints from the public and trade unions, as well as requests for assistance by employers; and

•	environmental inspections which fall within the ambit of the relevant regulations.

Chapter 5: Proposals for Environmental Management

The first steps required for the development of an EMP are to identify the mandate, policies and regulations in place within the DOL with regard to the broader environment (DEAT 1999). The main focus of the DOL up to now has been on the environment of the workers. While the health and safety of workers has an important place in broad environmental policy, the biophysical component of the environment must also be considered in other DOL policies.

National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No. 107 of 1998)

Environmental Management Plan : Department of Labour

Chapter 4 : Environmental Management Policies

4.10. Compliance and Monitoring Procedures