Covid-19: Safety Measures – Companies

Company COVID-19 Transitional Safety Measures

–  from 5 April 2022

COMPANY RESPONSIBILITIES

As companies – Your role is to ensure safe transition out of lockdown now with precautionary measures only – as of 5 April 2022 – refer to Gazette links on ELPA Homepage.

During lockdown – you were responsible to do regular screening of the health status of your employees and to provide measures for your employees to also maintain Covid-19 safety. Legislated requirements are updated with new announcements gazetted – please see links to details of latest Covid-19 measures on ELPA Homepage.

1. Regular screening – Observe and protect your staff like a mother hen – vaccination protects your staff from serious illness and death if/when they contract Covid-19

2. Whenever and wherever they move, know what their health status is at all times. Vaccination reduces their risk to contracting the virus and sustaining unconfirmed side effects.

3. Provide the means by which staff can adhere to their individual covid-19 safety responsibilities whilst on duty. Vaccination reduces the risk of loss of resources.

As companies – you are responsible for providing employees with the information, materials and facilities to adhere to individual Covid-19 safety measures. Vaccination is offered to all South African citizens as a national health protection measure. 

4. Help employees by re-inforcing the saftey measures as habits. Take care to apply the transitional measures effectively with clear guidance to avoid confusion.

It is the responsibility of each of your employees to exercise safe Covid-19 measures. Click here for individual Covid-19 Safety Measures.

SCREENING

1. Temperature – Take temperature measurements and record them for each person – no longer required.

Records must be kept for each time an employee enters the employer premises and any work site at which the company has assigned work.

2. Track symptoms – Covid-19 is now widespread and tracking systems offer limited additional knowledge – therefore no longer adds any benefits.

Keep track of symptoms by asking (and answering) the questions related to covid-19 known symptoms.

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3. Track staff movement and contacts – Ask, ask and ask.

Keep an accurate record of where and with whom every person interacts during their workday. This may yet be beneficial in the short term as we go into the winter months April 2022 to August 2022 in the event of a 5th wave and further unknown evoltuion of the virus. However, no longer mandatory. 

Tracking will improve your ability to quickly help all your staff take the necessary measures to protect the families they will go home to every night.

Congratulations!

The government have not done this on their own,

we have helped by being vigilant and have not panicked,

we have been responsible and not arrogant.

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