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Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act No. 75 of 1997)

Regulations

BCEA Regulations on Hazardous Work by Children

9. Worst forms of child labour

 

(1) In addition to any prohibition contained in regulation 8 it is an offence for any person to—
(a) require or permit a child to work in any of the following—
(i) underground mining;
(ii) work in connection with the operation of a smelter or furnace, or rolling mills that form and cut metals;
(iii) in the production of aluminium, brass, bronze or similar alloys, charcoal or the fuel, coke;
(iv) in the manufacture of auramine, isopropanol or magenta;
(v) in the gasification of coal;
(vi) diving operations covered by the Diving Regulations, made in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, irrespective of whether or not the child is an employee as defined in the Diving Regulations;
(vii) free diving below depths of 10 metres;
(viii) work in which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of exposure to blood-borne and airborne pathogens;
(ix) work involving an exposure to ionising radiation or a hazardous substance or agent;
(x) work in chemically-based mineral extraction or similar operations;
(xi) doing any work in an environment in which the actual dry-bulb temperature is below -18°C;
(xii) doing hard manual labour for a period of longer than 15 minutes in any hour in an environment in which the time-weighted average WBGT index, as defined in the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, made in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, determined over a period of one hour, is greater than 36;
(xiii) work in circumstances in which it is reasonably foreseeable that the child will be exposed to physical, psychological or sexual abuse;
(b) employ a child in circumstances in which the child is unreasonably confined to the employer premises;
(c) require or permit a child to engage for that person's benefit in one of following activities when this work is performed by a child as part of an organised business activity conducted by that person—
(i) begging;
(ii) scavenging or collecting waste from garbage or waste dumps; or
(d) use, recruit, procure or offer a child for the commission of any offence listed in Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977.

 

(2) For the purposes of regulation (1) a hazardous substance or agent is any one—
(a) listed in Schedule One of the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Substances, made in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993;
(b) listed in Annexure B of the Regulations for Hazardous Biological Agents, made in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993;
(c) registered with the Department of Agriculture as a Hazard Group I or II pesticide; or
(d) listed in Schedule 1 to these regulations.

 

(3) Any form of work listed in this regulation shall constitute a worst form of child labour as contemplated in the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, adopted by the International Labour Organisation.