Three City of Johannesburg workers died on duty

Three people died on duty while working for the City of Johannesburg between the months of July and September this year.

This is contained in a report tabled before council – the group corporate and shared services performance report – for the first quarter of the 2017/18 financial year.

Two of the deaths happened at the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD)‚ and one at the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA).

“One fatality was a result of a motor-vehicle accident. The root cause of the accident was attributed to the officer not following standard operating procedure (SOP). The SOP was reinforced with fellow officers.

“The second [JMPD] fatality occurred while an officer was performing stop-and-search duties at the M1 Marlborough off-ramp. Whilst the officer was trying to stop a truck‚ the truck ran him over. A criminal investigation is underway. Fellow officers have been urged to be extra vigilant during stop-and-search operations‚” the report said.

In the third fatality‚ an employee was run over while a truck was reversing at the JRA’s Benrose Depot‚ south of the city centre.

“The root cause of the accident was attributed to poor risk analysis. All supervisors at JRA were trained in proper risk analysis. All JRA employees also underwent refresher SHE [safety‚ health and environment] induction training and good housekeeping.

“The unit appointed one SHE specialist and a COID [Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases] specialist during the quarter‚” the report said.