New lockdown rules for delivery drivers in South Africa

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has published new regulations governing the safety measure couriers, postal services, network providers, and film and TV productions must implement to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The regulations were published in the Government Gazette on Wednesday and will apply to lockdown alert levels 3, 4, and 5.

These are in addition to any health protocols and social distancing measures already specified in South Africa’s disaster management regulations for the Covid-19 pandemic.

The following additional requirements apply to couriers:

• Couriers must be thermal scanned daily and must sanitise throughout the day
• All equipment and materials used must be sanitised more than once daily
• Courier drivers must be equipped with face masks
• Couriers must keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters from the customer when delivering parcels and other items
• Sanitisation processes must be in place upon actual delivery of parcels and other items to consumers
• Vehicles must be sanitised daily before the commencement of a shift
• All Directions in respect of health protocols and social distancing to prevent the exposure of persons to Covid-19 must be adhered to from packaging and distribution to delivery

The new regulations stated that these requirements on couriers must be read with the regulations published in May last year that un-banned ecommerce during lockdown.

Under the existing regulations, couriers must abide by the following rules in addition to those above:

• All Regulations and Directions in respect of hygienic workplace conditions and the potential exposure of employees to Covid-19 must be adhered to.
• In addition, employees may not share face masks, equipment, stationery, utensils or similar items.
• Health and safety officers must take each employee’s temperatures using appropriate equipment or instruments at the start of a shift and every four hours after the shift commences.
• All courier and delivery personnel must have their own hand sanitiser and disinfectant wipes, which must be refilled daily.
• Courier and delivery personnel must wear a cloth face mask that covers the nose and mouth when delivering goods to customers.
• Courier and delivery personnel must maintain at least one and a half metres distance from other courier or delivery personnel when collecting goods for delivery and customers when delivering goods.
• Courier and delivery service personnel may not enter the home of a customer if such customer and any other residents within the immediate vicinity are not wearing cloth face mask or a homemade item that covers the nose and mouth.

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