Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has landed itself in hot water with the Department of Labour after stonewalling a senior inspector who paid a visit to the Metro Police offices to conduct a Covid-19 risk assessment. This comes as unions representing members of the Metro Police accuse the City of ignoring their safety concerns and failing to provide adequate protection against the coronavirus.
Inspector David Esau visited the site on Tuesday after receiving a written request from trade union Saftu, whose members were concerned because their employer – the City – was allegedly not complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Esau said: "Upon entering the premises I was made to wait for more than an hour as the person in charge was asked not to engage me. Eventually I was asked to report to the front office and confronted by Colonel Annalene Marais (the deputy chief of the Metro Police), who asked me who I am and what the nature of my visit was.
"Upon showing my Inspector card I was stopped from any further engagement as she was informed by her HR unit to not engage me. I asked to speak to the person who instructed her to do such as it was a clear infringement of the powers of an Inspector as prescribed in the Act."
The union on Tuesday accused the City of not taking the Covid-19 pandemic, or the concerns of staff members about their health and safety, seriously.
"The cold-hearted response or lack of response from management is best captured by the response of Deputy Chief Marais to a question from a metro police officer who is a single parent asking what assistance the City would provide to her child if she should contract the virus. Marais responded along the lines of if she was ill due to any other illness would the City provide any assistance and why should they in this case. Thus clearly the City does not see this pandemic as being a crisis and can be equated to any other illnesses workers could contract," Saftu Western Cape secretary Andre Adams said.
According to Esau, Colonel Marais handed him her cellphone to speak to a Mr Lawrence, who indicated he should be allowed to enter the premises. When they reached the boardroom, Esau says, Marais again informed him that she would not allow it.
"I requested to have a shop steward or union representative present and she refused that request, which was again a contravention and only after she once again engaged someone on the phone did she allow the person to join us. The trend continued until I asked for a document, which she refused to give me, and at that moment I decided that she has become totally uncooperative and I will not be able to continue with the risk assessment exercise," Esau said.
Inspector Esau subsequently instructed that :
- Colonel Marais be charged in her personal capacity for obstruction
- That Marais and the City Manager be subpoenaed to appear before the Labour Inspector
- And that the City of Cape Town avail all their Metro Police site addresses for inspection
On Tuesday, Saftu said that Metro Police officers, through their union Demawusa, had alleged the following:
- There were approximately fourteen (14) Metro Police officers who had contracted the virus.
- There was no risk assessment plan that had been developed with staff input or been made known to staff.
- The offices of the Metro Police were not being cleaned or sanitised daily or on a regular basis during the day.
- There were no protocols in place for when an employee contracted the virus – We have a case where an employee informed the office of his status on confirmation of his test results and asked the employer to assist him with getting an ambulance to take him to hospital due to him experiencing dilapidating symptoms of shortness of breath. He was told to drive himself to Tygerberg. He had to get some of his colleagues to assist him to get an ambulance to take him to hospital, where he was admitted to ICU. He has subsequently been discharged from ICU.
- The City provided no assistance to staff members or their families when they as officers contracted the disease (Covid-19).
- Officers were told to bring Dettol or bleach from home to sanitise their patrol vehicles – no protocols or PPE equipment were provided for the sanitisation of patrol vehicles.
- Workers were unable to raise their concerns as they were told the issues they were raising were union matters and would not be entertained.
- No information was given to workers on when officers contract the virus.
- A failure to close down workplaces where an infection had been detected.
- No decontamination took place in the workplace – in one instance the workplace continued to be open for two days before a team supposedly arrived to sanitise the workplace while workers were still working in the building.
- No screening of employees were taking place.
Late last week IOL asked the City to respond to a list of allegations from Metro Police officers which corresponded with those highlighted by Saftu.
Here are the questions we posed and the responses from the City's spokesperson, Priya Reddy:
Claims that PPE was only handed out to some members two weeks after the lockdown began
City: All City staff have been issued with the necessary personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves and hand sanitisers. There is support and health and awareness training, and it is compulsory for staff to use hand sanitisers upon entering and leaving facilities. City staff include our colleagues in the Safety and Security cluster.
Allegations that the Tactical Response Unit had three members who tested positive at the Area South base and that colleagues who were interacting with them were not informed and advised to be tested. As a result, two more members of the unit have subsequently tested positive.
City: The City is well aware of the fact that our frontline staff who are rendering essential services to the public are more at risk, as opposed to other City employees who are working from home during the lockdown period.
We have contingencies and processes in place to manage these incidents (as stated above).
Furthermore, all City staff receive daily notices about the protocols and steps to be followed.
All staff have been issued with the necessary personal protective equipment in line with the required risk assessment conducted, and they have been informed and educated about personal safety precautions – among which the use of hand sanitiser, regular hand washing with soap and water, not to touch their faces, to practise physical distancing, to avoid touching common surfaces, and to avoid contact with the public/colleagues, among others.
Concern that Metro Police officers could be unwittingly infecting each other as well as members of the public.
City: See the responses above.
Should Metro Police not follow the example of SAPS and close down the buildings where cases have been identified, notify the public and conduct testing for all staff at these sites?
City: To date the City has closed each and every facility where an employee has tested positive, and we will continue to do so. In each of these cases the facilities were deep cleansed and sanitised in accordance with health and safety protocols, and again, we will continue to do so.
The City will inform the public should an incident be reported at a facility where officials/employees have had direct contact with members of the public. Almost all of the City facilities are closed to the public at the moment for this very reason – to prevent the spread of the virus.
Allegations that staff are being ignored by senior managers when voicing concerns for their safety. In one instance the director of special operations allegedly told a member "I don't care about your family, just do your job".
City: The City is not aware of this allegation, and cannot comment on the "concerns for their safety" as mentioned above. Employees have access to and are encouraged to also use the internal normal communication channels to bring any issues of concern to the City’s attention so that we can address these accordingly.