BL Premium reports that Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) has issued new regulations on Covid-19 that scrap the requirement that employees who have been diagnosed with the disease can only return to work after testing negative for the virus.
It is hoped this move will alleviate pressure on the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) has been unable to keep up with demand for testing. The new directive on Covid-19 and health and safety in the workplace, which was published in the Government Gazette last week, says employees who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 can return to work after they have self-isolated for 14 days and undergone a medical evaluation confirming they are fit for duty. Employers are required to monitor the person after they return to work, and the employee is required to wear a surgical mask for 21 days from the date of diagnosis. A key change is that the regulations defer to Department of Health guidelines on Covid-19 for isolating, testing and assessing the risk of transmission to colleagues should a worker be diagnosed with the disease. The regulations also scrap the requirement that employers wash and iron cloth masks provided to workers, so shifting the onus for caring for masks to employees. The regulations, which emerged from discussions at Nedlac, also contain new provisions to protect employee’s rights to refuse to work in an environment that poses an "imminent and serious risk" of exposure to Covid-19. Trade union federation Cosatu welcomed the new regulations.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
- Read too, Call for SA to change its virus-testing strategy to focus on health-care workers and patients admitted to hospitals, at BusinessLive
- And also, Strategy shifts for less tests and more contact tracing, at SowetanLive
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page