Health and Safety Bulletin Archive August 2009

Construction claims another life

It seems every other day there’s a construction fatality! Last week Thursday IOL. co.za reported the story of a worker who was buried in a 10-metre deep trench when its walls collapsed on him. Thabo Mofokeng was found dead five hours later, standing up. The Department of Labour is investigating the conditions under which Thabo and his colleagues to ensure they were up to code.
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DON’T let your business boom!

I’m sure you heard the news last Thursday of the explosion at the Benoni scrap metal factory. Apparently two gas cylinders exploded, injuring five people, three critically. A full investigation is underway, but chances are it could have just been a very unfortunate accident. But what if it wasn’t? What if the employer failed to fulfill his five employer obligations? If you handle any explosives in your business, you have five NON-NEGOTIABLE obligations…
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Encourage sick leave!

You should encourage employees to take sick leave. I don’t mean allowing employees to abuse sick leave (you know the kind who seem to always fall sick on a Friday or Monday?). But for those non-abusers…Dr. Mary Capelli-Schellpfeffer (medical director of the Loyola University Health System Occupational Health Services) says employees who come to work sick are more likely to harm your business than help you.
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Electric cigarettes still qualify as smoking!

I was at the International Fashion Sale last week (I am a woman after all!), and there was a stand advertising the new “electric” cigarette. This device is almost exactly like a real cigarette: once you draw on the butt-end of the cigarette, air is drawn into the atomiser through inlet holes on its side. The air flow triggers a switch and the battery heats up the atomiser which then vaporises the fluid in the cartridge. The cartridge is a mixture of nicotine, water, propylene glycol and some tobacco flavouring.

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