Your introduction to the COID Act

Do you know about the COID Act 130 of 1993 and your legal requirements in terms of the registration processes and tariffs?

Did you know that if you employ even one worker, you must comply with this legislation?

Did you know that If you hire contractors to work on your site or at your workplace, that this legislation also applies to you because you must make sure that your contractors are regeristed with COIDA?

Failure to comply with the COID Act will result in fines and penalties.

Make sure that you have the correct paperwork in place!

As a valued subscriber to the Health and Safety Advisor, you will always be up-to-date with your legal requirements and duties, and we'll keep you informed!

Read on to learn more about the COID Act...

The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) 130 of 1993 clearly sets out the legal requirements for tariffs, compensation and the limitations for claims for workers who are injured, or who contract illnesses and diseases while they’re at work. You need to know about all the legal requirements because if you don’t comply you could pay heavy fines and be penalised in other ways.

What is the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID)?

COID is a government body that compensates workers who’ve been injured at work or who have contracted an illness or disease at work. 

As the person responsible for your employees, you need to understand the logistical processes, and how COID operates, how the registration system works, and about your tariffs. COID is there to safeguard your workers when they are injured and to make sure that you support their compensation by paying your tariffs.

In the Health and Safety Advisor, we cover, in detail,

topics such as Legal Appointments, H&S Audits, Biological Hazards, Contractors in the Workplace, Construction procedures and regulations, Drugs and testing, Driven machinery, Explosives: safe handling, Discipline, Emergencies, Ergonomics, Electrical Machinery Regulations, First Aid, Forklift training, General Machinery Regulations, H&S Reps, Policies and Procedures, HIV, Hand tool safety, Housekeeping, H&S Management Systems, Incidents: procedures, reporting, procedures, Inspections, Legal registers, Lifts, escalators and passanger conveyors, Medical surveillance, Machine guarding, Noise pollution, OHS Budgets, PPE, Risk Assessments, Record keeping, Radiation, Safety signs, Stacking and storage, Scaffolding, Shifts, Toolbox talks, Unions, Wheel safety Waste Management and

much, much more!

Make sure that your company has implemented the correct health and safety procedures! Be 100% legally compliant, 100% of the time with the Health and Safety Advisor. Have your own H&S advisor to help you! You can have all the answers within your reach, on your desk, free for 14 days.

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Why must your company register with COID?

It's a legal requirement that all companies who employ people are registered with COID. Even if you only have one employee, you must register with COID (Section 80.1).

Yes, that means that the law says that you MUST register.

The registration form is available from any regional Compensation Fund office, or from the Department of Labour. The form is also available on the Internet, www.labour.gov.za. The form you need to complete to register is COID-W.AS2.

In our Health and Safety Advisor, we show you how to fill this form in, and give you sample forms and templates.

Remember: if your company has more than one business, each business’ earnings must be registered separately (Section 80.2). For example, you have a manufacturing company and a distribution warehouse, you would need to register these companies separately.

If you want to register your companies as a single registration, you must apply to the Compensation Commissioner in writing, who will give you written permission to do this, if he deems that it complies with the COID Act requirements.

After registering, you have 7 days to change your information and notify the Compensation Commissioner of the changes (Section 80.3). For example, you have registered and you have stated that you employ 10 people whose combined salaries/wages is R10 000.00, and after registering, you employ one extra person. Now you have 7 days to change the number of employees and the salary/wage quota. If you have changes and you don’t make that change within 7 days, you will be fined.

If you don’t comply with COIDA, you will be guilty of a criminal offence (Section 80.6). All companies are required to submit tax returns for their employees. This reflects the number of employees, their taxable earnings etc., and the commissioner receives this information from SARS (South African Revenue Services) and compares it to the information on your registration form. The commissioner does investigations on companies and uses the outcomes of the investigation to compare your actual employee list and salaries/wages with your registration information.

If you’re still thinking: “Do I really need the Health & Safety Advisor loose leaf service?”…

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If you have contractors working for you, what must you do in terms of COID?

If you have outside contractors working for your company, such as, cleaners, security, electricians, plumbers etc., they must also be registered with COID. 

Before you hire contractors, ask for their COID registration number and a copy of their COID letter of good standing from the Commissioner. This document must be kept in a file for that contractor, along with any other documents required under the OHSA Section 37.

Your company can be held liable for claims

If the contractor’s workers get injured or contract an occupational disease, the contracting company must process the COID claim. If the contractor is not registered or has not paid their tariff your company will be held liable for their claims.

Of course, there's a LOT more that I can tell you about COIDA and there's a LOT more information that's already in the Health and Safety Advisor about COIDA. But for more on COIDA and all the other topics mentioned earlier, you know what to do!