If one of your crew is injured on site, COIDA pays their medical costs in full and 75% of their earnings while they cannot work, normally for up to 12 months and extendable to 24 months in serious cases. In exchange, the worker cannot sue you for the injury. Your side of the deal: register with the Compensation Fund before your first worker starts, report every accident within 7 days, and front the first 3 months of disability pay, which the Fund refunds.
How COIDA works
The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993 (COIDA) replaced the old common-law right of an injured worker to sue the employer with a no-fault statutory insurance scheme. You pay an annual assessment; the Compensation Fund (or a licensed mutual association in some sectors) pays the benefits. Fault does not matter: the worker gets paid whether or not anyone was negligent, and in return cannot take you to civil court for the injury once COIDA applies. Domestic workers in private households, SAPS members and SANDF members fall under separate arrangements.
Your duties as an employer
- Register with the Compensation Commissioner on form W.As.2 before your first employee starts. The Compensation Fund's pages are at www.labour.gov.za/compensation-fund.
- Submit an annual return of earnings (form W.As.8) and pay the assessment. The assessment year runs 1 March to 28 February, and the return-of-earnings submission window normally runs from 1 April to 30 June; check the Compensation Fund's notice each year.
- Never deduct COIDA from wages. It is entirely an employer cost.
- Report every accident within 7 days (section 39 of COIDA) and every occupational disease within 14 days. Failing to report in time is a criminal offence and can attract a penalty of 10% of your declared annual earnings, or the full compensation payable plus interest.
Benefits and assessments are calculated on earnings up to a cap of R668,000 a year for 2026/27.
What the Fund pays
- Medical expenses: reasonable hospital, medication, rehabilitation and transport costs, paid in full.
- Temporary total disability (TTD): 75% of normal earnings while the worker cannot work, for up to 12 months, extendable to 24 months in serious cases. You pay the first 3 months and claim it back; if the disability runs past 3 months, the Fund pays the worker directly.
- Permanent disability under 30%: a lump sum.
- Permanent disability of 30% or more: an ongoing pension.
- Death: a pension or lump sum to the worker's dependants.
The claims process, step by step
- The worker reports the injury to you immediately; within 24 hours is best practice.
- The worker sees a doctor, who completes the medical report (form W.Cl.4) and progress reports (form W.Cl.5).
- You submit the Employer's Report of an Accident (form W.Cl.2) to the Compensation Commissioner within 7 days. Online submission runs through the Compensation Fund pages at www.labour.gov.za/compensation-fund; queries go to cfinfo@labour.gov.za or 0860 105 350.
- You pay TTD wages for the first 3 months (75% of earnings) and claim reimbursement from the Fund. Beyond 3 months, the Fund pays the worker directly.
- The Fund processes the claim once all forms are in. Keep copies of everything: missing paperwork is the main cause of stuck claims.
Worked example: a carpenter falls from a scaffold
Themba, a carpenter employed by a small builder, falls from scaffolding and breaks his arm. He reports it to his foreman the same morning. The employer submits the W.Cl.2 within 7 days. Themba's doctor completes the W.Cl.4 and W.Cl.5. He is off work for 6 weeks, during which the employer pays him 75% of his earnings and claims the refund from the Fund. The Fund covers the hospital and physio bills in full. Themba cannot sue his employer for negligence, but he is covered without having to prove fault. If the employer had sat on the report past 7 days, a 10% penalty on declared annual earnings could have followed.
Common mistakes
- Not being registered when the accident happens. Register on W.As.2 before day one, not after the ambulance leaves.
- Late reporting. The 7-day clock is statutory; "we were waiting to see how bad it was" is not a defence.
- Deducting COIDA from wages. It is never the worker's cost.
- Stopping the worker's pay at month one. You owe the first 3 months of TTD; the Fund reimburses you.
- Letting the paperwork drift. No W.Cl.4 and W.Cl.5 from the doctor means no decision from the Fund.
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