Workplace Safety During Protests and Public Unrest

Key takeaways

• The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers to provide and maintain, as far as reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to employees' health.
• A dynamic assessment should cover the site, routes, public transport, access points, evacuation, visitors, deliveries, hazardous processes and people who may face greater exposure.
• The legality of a gathering and the safety of requiring attendance are different questions.
• A public protest is not automatically a protected strike, picket or section 77 socio-economic protest under the Labour Relations Act.

1. Classify the event before choosing a response

Start by identifying what is actually expected. It may be a notified public gathering, a spontaneous demonstration, a labour strike or picket, protected socio-economic protest action, a transport disruption, isolated criminal conduct or wider unrest. These categories can overlap, but they do not have the same legal consequences.

Section 17 of the Constitution protects the right, peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, demonstrate, picket and present petitions. The Regulation of Gatherings Act creates processes for notices, consultation, conditions and policing of gatherings. An employer should not infer from rumours, traffic disruption or isolated damage that everyone present is acting unlawfully. Equally, the existence of a constitutional right does not make every route or workplace safe at every moment.

The Labour Relations Act separately regulates strikes, pickets and protest action promoting or defending employees' socio-economic interests. Do not call any absence during a public march “protected strike action” without checking the organiser, purpose, statutory process and employee's conduct. Obtain labour advice where the distinction affects attendance, discipline or pay.

2. Activate one incident lead and verified information channels

Nominate an incident lead and a backup with authority to coordinate safety, operations, HR, facilities, security and communications. Record when the response starts, who may make closure or remote-work decisions and when the next review will occur.

Use sources appropriate to the location: official municipal or transport updates, SAPS communications, road operators, building management, the event organiser where reliable and direct observations from responsible staff. Capture the source, time and affected area. A forwarded voice note or old video is a lead to verify, not a risk conclusion.

Issue one approved update channel. A useful message states the affected site or route, the instruction for the next shift, who must check in, an alternative arrangement if available, the next update time and an emergency contact. Avoid political characterisations, promises about pay or discipline, and personal information about employees.

3. Perform a dynamic workplace and travel risk assessment

OHSA sections 8 and 13 require more than a generic emergency plan. The employer must identify hazards, establish precautionary measures and provide information, instructions, training and supervision where necessary. Employees also have duties under section 14 to take reasonable care, cooperate with lawful safety requirements and report unsafe or unhealthy situations.

The Department of Employment and Labour's current risk-management guidance uses a practical cycle: identify hazards and affected people, evaluate the risk, select controls and monitor whether they work. Applied to protests and unrest, assess:

• the confirmed location, expected time, size, movement and likely duration;
• access roads, public transport, parking, pedestrian approaches and evacuation routes;
• the distance between the activity and entrances, loading areas or staff transport points;
• fire, medical, communications, power, alarm and emergency-service access;
• visitors, clients, contractors, delivery drivers and night-shift or lone workers;
• employees with disabilities, health needs, caregiving duties or no safe transport alternative;
• cash, dangerous machinery, hazardous substances, medicines, animals or processes that cannot simply be abandoned; and
• the consequence of opening, reducing operations, moving work or closing temporarily.

Review the assessment when the location changes, a route closes, violence is reported, a control fails, the next shift begins or new reliable information arrives. Keep a short decision log; hindsight should not replace the information available at the time.

4. Choose controls that reduce exposure

Use the strongest reasonably practicable control for the risk rather than relying only on warnings. Depending on the work, that may mean avoiding the exposure through temporary remote work, an alternative site, staggered hours, rescheduled appointments or closure. Other controls may include changing an access point, stopping deliveries, arranging safe transport, securing hazardous processes, limiting visitors or adding trained security within a lawful mandate.

Remote work is still work and requires suitable responsibilities, systems and safety arrangements. Confirm who may work remotely, what tasks remain possible, how time and information will be handled and when the arrangement ends. Do not assume every role can be performed from home or that an employee has electricity, connectivity, equipment or a safe remote environment.

If the business must maintain a critical operation, identify the minimum safe staffing and the point at which the operation will stop. Do not pressure employees to cross a dangerous crowd, move barricades, film people at close range or act as untrained security. Private security and building management should have defined, lawful roles and escalation channels.

5. Manage a protest near the entrance without confrontation

If a gathering reaches an entrance, prioritise people, emergency access and de-escalation. Move staff and visitors away from the immediate conflict area where that can be done safely. Preserve camera footage and access records according to policy, but do not instruct employees to provoke, identify or physically remove participants.

Contact building management, the responsible official or SAPS as the circumstances require. Call 10111 for an immediate police emergency and provide the location, nature of the incident, people at risk, injuries, safe contact details and access information. Ask for and retain the reference number.

Record blocked access, threats, damage and instructions using exact observations. Distinguish what a witness saw from what another person reported. Whether conduct justifies a police case, interdict, gathering-law step or civil claim is outside the operational safety decision and should be assessed separately.

6. Separate safety, attendance, pay and discipline decisions

Do not announce a blanket “no work, no pay” or dismissal rule in the first safety update. Pay and leave may depend on who suspended operations, whether work was tendered or performed, the employment contract, a collective agreement, sector terms, remote-work arrangements and the facts of the disruption. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act glossary is an orientation point, not a substitute for the applicable agreement and legal review.

For each affected employee, record the shift, instruction, communication, stated obstacle, available alternative, check-in and actual work. Separate:

1. an employee unable to travel or enter safely;
2. an employee who can work through an approved alternative;
3. an employee participating in potentially protected labour action;
4. an employee absent for another reason; and
5. an employee who may have disobeyed a clear, lawful and safe instruction.

If misconduct is considered, investigate the instruction, safety conditions, notice, employee's explanation, consistency and applicable rule. The final 2025 Code of Practice: Dismissal requires a fair reason and fair procedure and treats dismissal as generally inappropriate for a first offence unless the misconduct is serious enough to make continued employment intolerable. The dismissal-for-misconduct glossary and dismissal evidence pack can help organise the record without predetermining an outcome.

7. Record incidents, injuries and work interruptions

Open one incident register. Include verified updates, decisions and reasons, staff communications, check-ins, building or security reports, photos or video lawfully held, emergency references, injuries, medical assistance, damaged property, interrupted services and follow-up actions. Preserve originals and limit access to people who need the information.

If an employee is injured in an accident arising out of and in the course of employment, COIDA may apply. The Department and Compensation Fund say employers should report occupational injuries and provide current CompEasy claim-registration materials. Report promptly, obtain the required medical documentation and check the current process instead of waiting to see whether an injury worsens.

An injury during an ordinary commute is not automatically an occupational injury. Employer-provided transport, a special work journey, the place and purpose of the travel and other facts may change the analysis. Record the route, time, instruction, transport arrangement and connection to work, then obtain advice before accepting or rejecting coverage.

8. Reopen against recorded conditions

Do not reopen merely because a planned end time passed. Confirm that the relevant routes and access points are usable, emergency services can reach the site, security and building systems are operating, hazardous processes can restart safely and the next shift can travel.

Before resuming normal operations:

• inspect entrances, fire routes, alarms, utilities, machinery and affected property;
• account for staff, visitors and contractors who were on site;
• issue a time-stamped return instruction and transport or access changes;
• preserve evidence before repairs or cleanup where safe;
• refer injuries and trauma support through appropriate channels;
• record temporary work, leave, pay and attendance decisions; and
• schedule a short review of what failed and what the emergency plan must change.

The employment-dispute pack can organise later employment records. The unfair-dismissal service, labour-lawyer directory and labour-law hub help route issues that move beyond operational safety into discipline, protected action, contract or dismissal disputes.

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