The Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) Vaccination Policy (MVP) serves as the policy framework for all Covid-19 management and mitigation activities to reduce the risk of Covid-19 to staff, visitors, residents, students and contractors, both on and offsite.
The implementation of the policy is to protect the lives of our employees, their families, our students and stakeholders, visitors to the College and the communities at large.
The policy derives its mandate and regulatory requirements through the following pieces of legislation:
The Southern African Wildlife College adheres to the following principles of employer-employee and workplace safety:
The policy scope covers the footprint of all of the SAWC infrastructure on the SAWC portion of the Kempiana Nature Reserve, as well as the deployment of trainers/assessors and staff to external or third-party site for training or research purposes. It includes and is not limited to:
Exclusions: Ngala Game Lodge staff, SANParks staff, Online only lecturers, Online only consultants and service providers. Public Law Enforcement personnel, ESKOM staff, SANDF staff, Correctional Services etc.
The rationale for the development of the SAWC policy on vaccinations was based on the risk-based assessment that was prompted by the gazette Direction issued in terms of regulations 4 (10) of the regulations made under section (27)2 of the Disaster Management Act, 2002: Measures to address and combat the spread of Covid-19 in certain workplaces in the Republic of South Africa which was released in May 2021.
The SAWC Covid-19 and Occupational Health and Safety Committee were required to conduct a Risk-based Assessment of each job, function and service risk at the SAWC.
Secondly, if deemed necessary the SAWC would be required to develop a Vaccination Policy to proactively mitigate and combat the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace.
Thirdly, if a staff member refuses to obtain a vaccine on constitutional or medical grounds, the SAWC would have to provide a procedure for the individual to communicate and engage the SAWC management on their challenge.
It overwhelmingly found that all jobs are rated at high risk of infection, either by exposure or by infecting others. This also included onsite students, who travel in and out on a training and social basis. In addition, many students travel to the College from countries with low vaccination rates and similarly, many students travel in and out of the campus on a weekly basis into areas with low vaccination compliance. Furthermore, students and lecturers/trainers often have to train in close proximity, such as in firearms training, environmental monitoring and in one-to-one skills support, such as handling equipment such as power tools, electrically-charged/high voltage equipment, firearms and in a first aid/first responder context. The need to take reasonable measures to preserve life, or train and correct certain behaviour to preserve life and maintain safety means that breaking the social distancing requirements is a regular practical event in a conservation and law enforcement context. Thus alleviating risk to a trainer, student and first responder from Covid-19 infection is crucial to the performance of training and research programmes.
Due to the nature of the college campus, especially with served meals and communal learning, the rate of transmissibility is relatively high, even with the establishment of social distancing norms in place.
Lastly, the college has residents that are non-employees, including minors. It is the policy of the SAWC that residents must all be vaccinated, as they reside in, utilize and socialize with SAWC staff and infrastructure. Residents also receive external visitors on a social basis, which provides a risk to the SAWC staff and residents. The SAWC will therefore require all residents to be fully vaccinated Added to this many residents employ or utilize domestic and service worker within their houses for cleaning and related purposes. Likewise, all domestic and service workers will be required to be vaccinated. In addition, the policy developed and now requiring sign off by the SAWC’s Audit and Risk committee, addresses:
It must be noted that the Southern African Wildlife College’s Vaccination Policy may change from time to time due to legislative and operational requirements.