BL Premium reports that businesses in SA are being told to make sure they are prepared to react to a total electricity blackout.
This would not only require an immediate response plan to ensure the safety of all workers, but businesses also need to know how they will manage the impact of such an event on their operations in the days that would follow. Christopher Palm of the Institute for Risk Management SA noted that while reassurances have been given that the chances of a total electricity grid collapse were low, it had now become incumbent on the SA risk community to develop clear plans for a blackout. “We believe the country has reached a stage where preparation for a complete blackout, which could last up to a fortnight, now need to be factored into strategic planning for the remainder of the year. It is better to have an unused plan that none at all,” he pointed out. Businesses also had to develop a plan of approach and action, which would need to be communicated to all employees. Staff associations and unions would need to be provided with this information. The declaration of a national state of disaster over the electricity crisis has raised many questions about the legal rights of employees to make changes to workers’ terms of employment in the event of a complete blackout or prolonged high stages of load-shedding. Fiona Leppan of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr said employers needed to be proactive in putting agreements in place with employees in the event of a total blackout. Hugo Pienaar, also of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, recommended that actions such as short time, unpaid periods of leave, temporary layoffs, suspensions of employment or, ultimately, retrenchments, could be considered for a framework agreement, but there must be absolute open and transparent discussion between employers and employees. Such an agreement, said Leppan, should have a dispute resolution mechanism built into it to avoid industrial action as far as possible.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Denene Erasmus at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Companies, unions need to develop frameworks for dealing with impact of energy, water outages, at Engineering News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page