Drawing the curtain on the Department of Employment and Labour and Rand Mutual Assurance's Occupational Health and Safety Conference: 2026, at Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya called for consequences for noncompliance on occupational health and safety.

“Where non-compliance is persistent, there must be consequences. Failure to comply with labour laws undermines worker dignity, fair competition, and economic stability," Sibiya said.

Deputy Minister Jomo Sibiya told the gathering that it should be an anomaly to have workers who get injured in the course of work. “Neither should they contract diseases or worse, lose their lives," he said.

He called for a move from Compliance to Prevention and said this would not only require a shift in the mindset, but a different way of doing things.

Sibiya told the conference that for far too long, occupational health and safety has been treated as a compliance exercise focusing on meeting the absolute minimum legal requirements. He said, however, compliance alone does not prevent injuries, illnesses, or fatalities. “Compliance is the starting point. Prevention is the destination. Compliance is a sprint, prevention is a marathon," the Deputy Minister said.

He said prevention requires more than policies and procedures; it requires anticipating risks before harm occurs, designing safer systems of work, and embedding health and safety in leadership and decision-making. To him, this also means continuously adapting to new and emerging hazards.

According to Sibiya, there has been strong support for decisive action against non-compliance and greater collaboration in enforcement processes.  He said inspectors remain at the centre of the effort and that they are not merely regulators. “They are protectors of workers' lives and dignity. At the same time, enforcement must be understood not as punishment, but as a corrective mechanism ensuring that workplaces meet the standards of health and safety, as well as fairness and dignity as expected in our country," Sibiya added.

Deputy Minister Sibiya said the common call from participants in the conference is that occupational health and safety is a shared responsibility, as government alone cannot achieve safer and healthier workplaces; employers alone cannot achieve safer and healthier workplaces, and workers alone cannot achieve safer and healthier workplaces.'

“It requires partnership. While employers and workers work together to achieve this reality, government must provide a strong regulatory framework, effective enforcement, and coordination across institutions.

When employers and workers work together, occupational health and safety move beyond policy; it becomes a culture," Sibiya emphasised.

The integration of Artificial Intelligence into Occupational Health and Safety was discussed among participants. During the discussion, it was evident that there is a need for integration, and there was also agreement that there is a need for further refinement of Artificial Intelligence, as there are benefits and risks.

Simphiwe Mabhele, Technical Officer from the International Labour Organisation, highlighted the advantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Occupational Health and Safety. According to him, Digitalization is transforming work globally, reducing exposures to high‑risk tasks (chemicals, confined spaces, extreme temperatures), providing smart monitoring that enables real‑time hazard detection, as well as improving training quality & hazard recognition.

Mabhele told the conference that AI is expected to augment 427 million jobs globally, whereas Automation may partially replace 75 million jobs.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Teboho Thejane

Departmental Spokesperson

082 697 0694/ teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za

-ENDS-

Issued by: Department of Employment and Labour

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