Today's Labour News

IOL News reports that clothing retailer Truworths turned to court after it was slapped with notices for allegedly contravening the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) as it did not, at two of its stores, provide employees at its cash desks with seating facilities.

It was ordered by the chief inspector to provide seats with back rests at the two outlets. But Truworths turned to the Joburg Labour Court (LC) to have this directive overturned, as it reasoned that the employees at its cash desks do not perform their work seated. Moreover, it said there there were adequate seats available when these workers took a break from the cash desk. According to Truworths, the chief inspector failed to determine whether any or all of the employees at either of its stores normally performed their work standing up, nor whether their work could effectively be performed while sitting. The LC, in ruling in favour of Truworths, said although the primary focus of the OHSA was to ensure the health and safety of employees, the interests of the employer could not be completely discounted. It said the OHSA was not about what was the best way that the health and safety of the employees could be achieved, but was “about whether, feasibly considered, the health and safety of the employees can be ensured by what has been implemented by the employer.” The LC found that the safety officers had misconstrued the law: “What they did was to dictate to the appellant where seating had to be provided - behind the cashiers’ desks.” The court added that it was never considered whether this was practical. The officers also did not consider that there was seating elsewhere in the shops for the workers to sit down when they needed a rest.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Zelda Venter at IOL News

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