GroundUp reports that the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) has taken action against a food company in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape where a worker’s hand was severed last week by a machine   

DEL provincial communication officer Ziphozihle Josefu advised that inspectors had visited Truda Foods on 15 January, soon after the accident in which Eugene Jali lost his hand while working on a maize mixing machine.  His lower arm was later amputated at a local hospital.  “An Occupational Health and Safety inspection was conducted on 15 January and found a lack of supervision and a contravention notice was issued to that effect,” said Josefu.  The department has instructed the company to review its risk assessment process to ensure that revised safety measures are put in place.  Josefu added that the company had also been requested “to advance precautionary measures of the machine and to ensure that workers are inducted before operating the machines.”  The department has reportedly received the first medical report and is assessing and determining compensation for the employee.  Meantime, the SA Security and Allied Workers Union (Saswu) accused Truda Foods of exposing workers to poor safety conditions.  The union claimed that Jali was not trained to use the machine and that the company did not offer its workers sufficient protective clothing.  But, CEO of Truda Foods, Colin van Heerden, denied Saswu’s claims as being “completely false”.  He said the company complied with occupational health regulations and blamed Jali for the accident, saying that the employee had worked for more than a year on the machine and was aware of the safety features on it.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Joseph Chirume at News24

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