Question NW2591 to the Minister of Employment and Labour
21 September 2023 - NW2591
Denner, Ms H to ask the Minister of Employment and Labour
(1) What number of complaints were lodged with the Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) of his department in the Western Cape regarding the issuance of the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents (HCA) since 1 January 2021; (2) whether any alleged noncompliance with the HCA regulations specifically on farms in the specified province have been reported; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) what number of (a) reactive inspections into alleged noncompliance with the HCA regulations on farms have been conducted and (b) proactive inspections were conducted by the IES in the province; (4) following the specified inspections, what number of (a) findings of noncompliance on farms in the Western Cape were made by the IES inspectors and (b) written directions to comply were issued to employers where noncompliance with the provisions were found; (5) what (a) number of and (b) sanctions, as contemplated in Section 16 of the regulations, were issued to employers for noncompliance? NW2974E
Reply:
(1) Only one complaint was received from an organisation representing women in farming. The Organisation is of the view that certain chemicals are banned in Europe and is lobbying very hard to have the same chemicals banned in South Africa as they argue it has disastrous effects even with PPE.
(2) Yes – we received complaints regarding non adherence to our legislations including use of hazardous chemical agents from:
a) Worker in the agriculture sector
b) Non-profit organisation and
c) Labour unions
Farmers are encouraged to conduct the spraying before the wind reaches a certain strength and that normally happens at night and Organisations are of the view that some farmers are not concerned about the wind which then contribute to higher exposure especially to residents staying close to the farms.
(3) Re-active inspections conducted = 109
Compliant = 92
Non – compliant = 17 (All served with enforcement notice)
Proactive inspections = 1319
Compliant = 686
Non-compliant = 633 (All served with enforcement notice)
(4) Findings – These vary from each workplace (farm), when inspectors visit workplaces; they typically wouldn’t just concentrate on one area but they would cover all our employment laws. Even when an inspection would be triggered by a complaint relating to use of hazardous chemical agents, the inspector verifies level of compliance on all regulations that are applicable to that particular workplace.
(5) 20 employers (farms) failed to comply with the served enforcement notices and prosecution was recommended.