The Extent of Occupational Health Hazard Impact on Workers: Documentary Evidence from National Occupational Disease Statistics and Selected South African Companies’ Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures in providing alternative information on the extent of occupational health hazard impact on workers, by selected South African companies operating within the manufacturing and utilities sectors amidst an absent national occupational disease surveillance system. An online internet search was used to retrieve publicly available national occupational disease statistics published between 2001 and 2020, and Corporate Social Responsibility reports of selected South African case companies, published between 2015 and 2020. Content analysis was used to analyse the retrieved documents for both descriptive and numeric data. The collection and reporting of occupational disease data in South Africa is inconsistent. Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures related to occupational health metrics vary between companies. Occupational disease incidence was the least reported of the social aspects in Corporate Social Responsibility disclosures, and/or were reported as a single statistic or combined into occupational safety incidence rates in some instances, obfuscating the true extent of the impact caused by occupational health hazards on workers. Furthermore, noise-induced hearing loss remains the most prevalently reported occupational disease, in general. Corporate Social Responsibility reports point to occupational health hazards requiring regulatory intervention, whilst also providing an alternative information source for occupational disease statistics.