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A prohibition notice has been issued by Employment and Labour inspectors to Coega Steel in Gqeberha after the company was found to have flouted various health and safety regulations.
The discovery of noncompliance came to effect after an Occupational Health and Safety Inspector received anonymous pictures of a Coega Steel employee with burns on hands and face due to an explosion that took place at the employer’s furnace department.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Department said five employees sustained burns all over their bodies following the incident on Sunday, the 22nd of August.
It says the employer continued with production on the same day without conducting an internal investigation to get to the root cause of the incident and concluded that the incident was due to human error.
According to the statement, inspectors "handed over the prohibition notice to stop all operations at the furnace department where an explosion took place as there were no steps or action taken by the employer to prevent the re-occurrence of such incident."
Eastern Cape Head of the Labour Department, Nomfundo Douw-Jack, says they will ensure that employee rights are protected and employers who contravene the law are brought to book.
