02 Jul 2024

The responsibility to provide a safe working environment for employees and to ensure their compensation is taken care of in case of injury lies with the employer, says Department of Occupational Health and Safety - Workers Compensation commissioner, Ms Sadi Kgaodi.

Giving a presentation on workmen’s compensation during a recent workers’ compensation, group life assurance workshop organised by Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) in Maun, Ms Kgaodi said workers had the right to work in a safe environment and have protection in case injury occurred.

As such, she said the employer had a common law duty to provide a safe and conducive workplace environment.

Ms Kgaodi said it was worrisome that some employers neglected their responsibility to insure and seek medical attention for employees while some employees were reluctant to protect themselves.

She pointed out that other employers failed to abide by the Workers Compensation Act, which stipulated that an injury should be reported within 17 days from the date of the accident or diagnosis of occupational disease while others failed to report injuries to the insurer.

Ms Kgaodi explained that failure to report an injury was a punishable offence.

She explained that in Botswana occupational injuries and diseases were compensated through the act, which she said intended to provide compensation to workers for injuries suffered or occupational diseases contracted in the course of the employment or for deaths resulting from injuries or diseases.

Ms Kgaodi revealed that it was the employers’ responsibility to ensure workers get the medical attention they need and deserve citing that the employer has to manage the worker’s injury until recovery.

“If any injury occurs while on the job, it is the responsibility of the employer to compensate and once it is reported, the employer has to investigate and assess the severity of the injury to determine whether to refer or not,” she said.

Ms Kgaodi also stressed the need for employers to appoint medical practitioners who look after the health and wellbeing of their employees, citing that currently workers sought medical attention on their own in case of injuries instead of the employer engaging the nominated doctor to assist.

She cautioned that where the worker did not present themselves before the medical practitioner determined by the employer, compensation would be suspended until such examination had taken place.

“If the employee is aggrieved by the medical report of the medical practitioner appointed by the employer, he/she has the right to request a second medical opinion at his or her own expense,” Ms Kgaodi.

Dr Max Nhlatho from Doctors Inn Health Centre concurred that employers had to understand the importance of compensation to employees injured while on duty.He said employers must first ensure the injured employee get the medical attention they need before anything else, adding that as health practitioners, they also had the duty to grade injuries as some were repeatable.

He called for the review of the law to standardize how to determine injuries.

MVA Fund branch manager from Francistown, Mr Keitumetse Nkala shared some statistics on road crashes saying they were scary and called for effort by all to curb accidents.

He indicated that since January to date, they had recorded 131 cases as compared to last year where they registered over 500 cases citing that they had observed that drivers’ attitude was one of the main causes of road accidents.

With regard to impact of car crashes, he pointed out that they recorded 4 882 people with severe injuries, among whom 173 had spinal cord injuries, 3 726 had micro fractures and organ injuries, while 550 minors lost their parents, with men being the majority.

Mr Nkala noted that the fund also facilitated efficient and effective post car crash care, citing that they had signed memorandum of agreement with some organisations to assist. ENDS