The additional 100 health and safety inspectors that were appointed by the Department of Labour in 2015 now have their first year of experience under their collective belts. More companies can now expect to be visited, or visited more often. Don't sit and wait for a DOL inspector to tell you want to do as this usually comes with consequences. Rather sign up for inspection services to stay ahead.

It's true that the 245 DOL Health and Safety inspectors now employed, are by far not enough to cover all South African workplaces. The number is a far cry from the 1011 inspectors the department should have according to international standards. By appointing an extra 100 inspectors there is an expectancy that the Department of Labour would only want to grow from there. Health and safety inspectors are appointed in terms of section 63 (1) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. It is their job to monitor the adherence to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Compensation for Occupational Injury and Diseases Act, the Employment Equity Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Unemployment Insurance Act.

When the Department of Labour inspector concludes that an employer is non-compliant, the DOL inspector has the powers to shut down the workplace until mitigating measures have been taken. Leaving it up to an inspector to point out the shortcomings in your organisation or your approach can be a costly decision. With new technologies and approaches introduced every day, adhering to the named Acts can be challenge of its own. It requires one to be well-vested with the developments and the solutions new technologies can provide. It also requires that one understands the implications of those solutions and the consequences these might have elsewhere in the organisation.

Apart from providing health and safety services, MAKROSAFE also provides Health and Safety training for both aspiring and experienced health and safety professionals as well as support in handling injuries on duty claims. MAKROSAFE has first-hand experience of what it is that inspectors of the Department of Labour are looking for or how the various Acts should be interpreted. Acts might have been drafted a long time ago however, they are never cast in stone. This is why employers are expected to read them over again regularly to acquaint themselves with the new Making use of professional health and safety inspection services will provide employers peace of mind. Such a pro-active approach will reduce a visit by an inspector of the Department of Labour to a mere 'courtesy visit' as MAKROSAFE Health and Safety consultants already have identified and mitigated possible shortcomings.

As the MAKROSAFE Health and Safety consultants visit their sites regularly, they are able to identify any possible gaps in the health and safety program that need to be addressed. This allows employers to take action immediately before these gaps can spiral out of Believing that your premises will never be visited by inspectors of the Department of Labour, given the limited capacity they currently have, is like believing the presence of the sea on three sides of the country will prevent a water-crisis from happening. The problem is that when it hits, it will hit you hard. Don't sit and wait until things will happen. Use professional inspection services to proactively anticipate the visits by the inspectors of the Department of Labour. Let them love your set up and allow them to focus their minds on the wheelers and dealers further down the road.