Commercial Law Housekeeping
The National Lockdown is the ideal time to consider some corporate governance issues in your business that have perhaps been on the “to do” list for a while. These may include:
- Whether you are operating your business in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“the OHS Act”). Failure to strictly comply, could lead to huge fines and/or imprisonment especially considering that the OHS Act applies to all businesses, except mining.
- Our Commercial Team has extensive knowledge in the proper implementation of the OHS Act and has co-authored comprehensive compliance manuals, which are of great assistance to the management of any business. The manuals contain guidance on the development of an Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Policy; example letters of appointment for each staff position that the OHS Act requires , from the CEO right to crane and forklift operators. The manuals also contain guidance on work permits; employees’ health and safety handbooks; management and liability of and to contractors; general and specific training of employees, accident investigations and dealing with the inspectorate. The manuals have proven themselves to be very valuable tools for managers, whose time is then free to concentrate on production and running of the business, rather than trying to interpret legislation.
- Compliance with the Employment Equity Act (“the EE Act”: We know that the EE Act prohibits discrimination in the workplace, embodies affirmative action and lists the procedures to be followed in enforcing the rules and monitoring a businesses’ progress in achieving equity in the labour market. But how does a business implement the EE Act on a practical everyday basis – from the advertising for jobs; to understanding the various grounds of discrimination (race; age; pregnancy; disability; sexual orientation; religion) to name but a few, to compiling and maintaining the various reporting template forms that are required to be kept and submitted under the EE Act. Witz Inc.'s Commercial Team is available to navigate you and your business through the many requirements stipulated in the EE Act.
- The very often neglected Approval Framework: have you given proper consideration to who in your business can sign for what and in what amounts? Has your business reached a size such that the owner does not have the time to sign for everything, be it contracts or expenditure – if so, it may be time to delegate authority to others in the business. This must obviously be done in a properly controlled fashion in terms of a written Approval Framework.
We would would be happy to assist you with developing bespoke procedures and compliance and corporate governance manuals for your business, which will ensure that your business is operated in a legally compliant and most efficient manner.