COSATU has presented its submission on the Railway Safety Bill to Parliament
25 August 2022
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on the Railway Safety Bill to the National Assembly’s Portfolio Committee on Transport. This is a long overdue Bill and intervention that seeks to ensure railway workers, commuters and freight can travel and arrive at their destinations safely.
COSATU supports the progressive objectives and provisions of the Bill that seek to overhaul our often weak health and safety provisions governing our passenger and freight railway network. Key provisions include empowering the Railway Safety Regulator and its inspectors to inspect, seize documents and other relevant evidence, and to suspend railway operations where needed in order to protect lives and cargo.
Whilst welcoming the objectives of this critical Bill, COSATU is deeply concerned about key weaknesses, omissions and problematic provisions. Provisions that needed to be amended by Parliament include:
It’s limiting the Railway Safety Regulator’s inspections to between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. This defies logic when railway operations operate beyond office hours. Limiting the powers to inspect whenever needed will seriously weaken the ability of inspectors to enforce railway safety standards and enable the culprits to hide incriminating evidence.