By OBAKENG MAJE
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) in the North West has called on the North West Department of Health to immediately shut down the Brits Forensic Pathology Services. This comes after the union painted a grim picture regarding the status quo of the mortuary.
NEHAWU regional secretary in Bojanala District, Shadrack Ramaru said the union is revolted by the terrible state of Brits Forensic Pathology under the North West Department of Health, where workers are subjected to intolerable harmful working conditions.
Ramaru alleged that they have always raised concerns about non-compliance to Occupational Health and Safety Act in several institutions of the Department of Health and there seems to be no willingness from the side of the department to address these challenges.
He further said workers are without proper Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) and office space for forensic staff. Ramaru added that workers allegedly utilize their cars as offices in this cold winter season.
“The sub-district management failed dismally to protect workers and their main focus is exerting pressure on workers to report for duty knowing fully well the state of OHS in the mortuary.
“The fact that the Department of Labour issued notices in December 2022, for the department to effect improvements, however, to date there are no improvements nor a sign that the department will act,” he said.
He said what the department has done to their members, was a total disregard to legislative prescripts that govern public service. Ramaru alleged that what is happening at the mortuary is mutilation of Basic Conditions of Employment and Occupational Health and Safety Act.
“The dilapidated state of the mortuary, damaged refrigerators, non-functional toilets and failure to provide water has contributed to workers not coping at all with their daily duties. It is therefore, a serious misconduct from the side of the department to have failed to ensure proper basic conditions of employment.
“As the NEHAWU, we call for the immediate closure of Brits Forensic Pathology services due to non-compliance with OHSA and BCSA and all workers employed under the workplace, must be taken for medical check-up on the departmental costs,” he said.
Meanwhile, the North West Department of Health spokesperson, Lucas Mothibedi said: “The department has a very strong Occupational Health and Safety culture that was strengthened during COVID-19. There are functional Occupational Health and Safety committees that are functional at all levels of the service platform.
“The department can also confirm that all labour unions are part of these structures, which have registered much progress. Indeed, the department is aware of the situation at the Brits Forensic Pathology. It is not true that workers are without proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and office space for forensic staff.”
Mothibedi said there is adequate PPE with a buffer stock in the storage area in Orkney College. He said the department acknowledges the fact that space is not adequate to accommodate every staff in their individual offices, but all staff do get accommodated.
“This mortuary was donated by a mining house and the department will be refurbishing the infrastructure once the Phokeng Mortuary project is completed. It is also not true that workers utilize their cars as offices in this cold winter season. There is a well-furnished office space that is used by staff.
“The allegations that the sub-district management failed dismally to protect workers and their main focus is exerting pressure on workers to report for duty knowing fully well the state of OHS in the mortuary are unfounded,” said Mothibedi.
He said indeed the Department of Labour has issued a notice, but that was issued mainly dealing with infrastructure gaps that required huge financial investment. Mothibedi said the department prioritised the total refurbishment of Phokeng Mortuary, which was in an extremely bad condition to a point of closure by the then MEC.
“It is the intention of the department to refurbish all the mortuaries, with Brits being earmarked as the next in line following Phokeng. An alarm was raised through NEHAWU about the alleged state of disrepair within the mortuary and calling for closure of the facility and the provincial management responded immediately.
“There were challenges that were identified and action was taken to resolve them. Only one fridge was reported to have stopped working for a day on the 24 July 2024, and the supplier was activated and got it fixed the next day,” he said.
Mothibedi said due to challenges of water interruptions in the area sometimes and the water pump that was malfunctioning, water could not be pumped from the water storage in a pressurised manner, which affected even the cleanliness of the facility. He said, however, a new water pump was installed on 26 July 2024, to increase the water pressure.
“There are 11 toilets of which three were found to be malfunctioning and the district maintenance team is attending to them. There is a process that is followed for any facility to be closed, which can come in the form of the Department of Labour, Environmental Health Office and Member of Executive Council,” said Mothibedi.
He said in this case, the department believes that much work has been executed and will continue to work on these things in a phased-in approach due to budgetary constraints. Mothibedi said it is the responsibility of the department to subject the employees to medical surveillance through OHS and it will be implemented as per OHS Director recommendations.
The Guardian 