Three penalties you face if you don't comply with your obligation to protect your traveling employees

If your employees travel for work, you must comply with the following legal obligations…

Your four legal duties for employees that travel for work

It's your responsibility to ensure a safe working environment where ever your employee works. This includes:

1. Doing your research about the destination your employee will be travelling to and identifying the hazards.
2. Ensuring your employee is provided with any required vaccinations and medication to prevent the development of infectious diseases;
3. Advising your employee about the place they'll be traveling to and providing first aid training, to comply with the OHSA; and
4. Ensuring the place of accommodation is safe from any insects that carry infectious diseases (such as malaria).

You'll face these three penalties if you fail to protect occupational travellers

#1: If you don't take the necessary preventative measures to ensure your employee is safe from harm and hazards, you'll be guilty of an offence. If you're convicted, you'll be liable for a fine of R50 000, be jailed for one year or both.

#2: If you're found to be the cause of harm to an employee or fail to do anything to protect an employee, and your failure caused him harm, you'll be guilty of an offence. If you're convicted of the offence you could be fined R100 000, face imprisonment for two years or both.

#3: 'Together with the fine or imprisonment, the court may also order you to comply with your obligation, rectify the offense or omission to protect your employee within a specified time limit,' says the Health & Safety Advisor.

As you can see, the consequences of not complying with your legal obligations are enormous. So comply with the OHSA by protecting your traveling employees.

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