What every employer and employee should know for the digital economy

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What every employer and employee should know for the digital economy

• 25 April 2025
• Regulatory Compliance and Legislation
• South African Accounting Academy

Summary:

The Department of Employment and Labour has published a booklet on what every employer and employee should know on the digital economy.

Article:

The aim of the document is to provide employers and employees with information on how to identify and control occupational health and safety related exposures in the digital economy.

The digital economy can be defined as the digitalisation that has creep into almost all sectors of the economy and has encompassed a wide range of new ways of incorporating data and the internet into production processes and business models. For this guideline, examples of the digital economy include, but are not limited to; telework, call centres and platform work.

Contents:

1. Aim
2. What is the digital economy?
3. What are some of the hazards employees in the digital economy may be exposed to
4. What should the employer do to protect their employees
   • Risk Assessment
   • Risk Control
   • Record Keeping
   • Review of the risk assessment
5. Precautionary measures to be taken by the employer
   • Annexure 1 - Employee's Checklist to assist in assessing Digital Economy Workplaces (Employers may also use this checklist as a form of assessing workplaces)
   • Annexure 2 - Employer's Checklist to assist in assessing Digital Economy Workplaces

Click here to download the 12-page document:

https://www.labour.gov.za/DocumentCenter/Publications/Occupational%20Health%20and%20Safety/What%20every%20employer%20and%20employee%20should%20know%20for%20the%20digital%20economy.pdf

Relevance to Auditors, Independent Reviewers & Accountants:

• The OHS Act is yet another piece of legislation that your clients must comply with, and which you must assess compliance with.  If they don’t comply with the relevant laws and regulations, you have certain reporting obligations in terms of NOCLAR (NOn-Compliance with Laws And Regulations) – this could include reporting to management, qualifying your audit opinion, reporting a Reportable Irregularity, etc.
• Employers and employees, and all other roleplayers should know how to identify and control occupational health and safety related exposures in the digital economy.
• As an employer, you also need to comply with OHS in your own workplace.

Relevance to Your Clients:

• Employers and employees, and all other roleplayers should know how to identify and control occupational health and safety related exposures in the digital economy.

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