Health and Safety in the Workplace
...juries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993 which provides for compensation for disablement caused by occupational injuries or diseases sustained or contracted by employees in the course of their employment, or for death resulting from such injuries or diseases; and to provide for matters connected therewith. The report will look at to what extent these programmes, policies and procedures have adhered to the legislative framework, as well as their scope and quality. In the instances where the programmes, policies and procedures are found lacking, recommendations and improved programmes, policies and procedures will be made. SAFETY The first area to be looked at will be safety at Rhodes. Rhodes’ main programme in relation to the safety and security of its students is the Campus Protection Unit (CPU). The core objectives of the CPU are: • To satisfy the needs of staff, students and parents for a safe and secure environment for academic studies and activities thereby enhancing the quality of the Rhodes experience. • To contribute to the overall purpose of Rhodes as a provider of life skills by educating people in proactive measures to reduce security and safety hazards. • To strive to earn the respect and confidence of the Rhodes community by projecting an image of courtesy, concern and competence and by providing a quick and knowledgeable response to emergency situations. The team includes CPU and Hi-Tec guards and operates 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The team also includes a number of students who assist on the CPU Help desk and provide additional security bicycle patrols at night. The main problem of the CPU guards is their accessibility. Granted, there are established paths (the Blue and Green routes) which are routinely patrolled, but these only cover a certain part of campus. Students have the option of asking for an escort home, but it also takes these escorts a while (about twenty minutes) to respond, and a student can be left waiting outside in very auspicious areas for long periods of time. The same is true for when a crime occurs—CPU guards generally are slow to arrive on a scene. Also, there are areas around residences which are not well patrolled, resulting in there being certain areas of campus which have a high theft percentage. These problems do not necessarily need more guards to be placed on campus---the installation of better lighting systems would accomplish more or less the same thing, as part of the problem with the areas that are more susceptible to theft and the likes are dark, badly lit areas. The resolutions to these problems do not necessarily need for an entirely new programme to be devised; the CPU has done a very adequate job in regards to maintaining student safety. There are just a few precautions, those of patrol around residence areas, as well as...