2023 has again been a rollercoaster ride with South Africans experiencing extreme lows (petrol price hikes, significant increase in food prices, interest rate hikes, etc.) and extreme highs (the performance of South Africa’s sports teams including the historic win by the Springboks), and there is no doubt that South Africans are experiencing deep physical and mental fatigue.
This deep physical and mental fatigue will undoubtedly have an impact on decision-making in the workplace. Poor decision-making in the workplace can have disastrous consequences for health and safety.
On top of deep physical and mental fatigue, South Africans tend to enthusiastically embrace the festivities that often accompany the December holidays.
The combination of all of these factors can have deadly consequences in the workplace, and it is for this reason that employers in South Africa focus on, and implement what is often called the “silly season campaign”, aimed at identifying the risks associated with the December period, highlighting these risks, and implementing measures to mitigate the risks associated with work being carried out over the December period.
The construction industry, with its large number of employees, typically shuts down over the December period, while major employers, such as the mining industry, often continue to work through the December period. For this reason, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, through the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate requires mining companies to develop and implement the “silly season campaigns” as early as October of each year due to the often sharp rise in serious incidents and fatal accidents.
The starting point is for all stakeholders, including employers and employees/trade unions, to acknowledge that socio-economic factors can have an impact on workplace health and safety, and to implement sustainable health and safety campaigns, with the buy-in of all stakeholders, to mitigate workplace risks over this period. The commitment to zero-harm requires a focused approach, for the December period based on an acknowledgement that something more needs to be done to ensure the health and safety of persons in South Africa’s workplaces over the December period.
We previously published a “Back to Basics” series on how to prevent workplace accidents, and you can access the link here.
Our team at Beech Veltman Incorporated remains available to provide further assistance and guidance.