On 23 January 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa gazetted the commencement of key provisions of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act. Although the Act was signed into law in April 2023, most sections remained inactive until now. The amendments take effect in phases — February and April 2026 — and affect every South African employer, including private households.
Change 1 — Criminal prosecution replaced by immediate administrative fines
Under the previous COIDA regime, enforcing penalties against non-compliant employers required a criminal prosecution process — formal charges, court proceedings, and the delays that come with them. In practice, this meant most violations went unactioned. The 2026 COIDA Amendment Act changes this fundamentally.
The Department of Employment and Labour can now impose substantial administrative fines immediately— without a court process, without a formal warning, and without delay. Inspectors who find a violation during a workplace visit or investigation can issue a fine on the spot.
The financial exposure is material. Failing to report a workplace accident within the prescribed 7-day window, for example, can now trigger an immediate administrative fine equal to the full compensation owed to the injured worker. For a serious injury requiring hospitalisation and rehabilitation, that figure can reach hundreds of thousands of rands — imposed instantly, not at the end of a court process that might take years.
The practical implication: COIDA violations that previously had a low probability of financial consequence now carry an immediate and certain one. Administrative fines under the 2026 amendments are not a deterrent — they are a consequence. Every employer who has been relying on the slowness of criminal prosecution to avoid addressing compliance gaps has lost that buffer.
Change 2 — Injury claim window extended from 12 months to 3 years
Previously, an employee who was injured at work or contracted an occupational disease had 12 months from the date of the incident to lodge a claim with the Compensation Fund. The 2026 COIDA Amendment Act extends this window to three years.
For employers, this change has a direct record-keeping consequence. An injury that occurred in 2024 can now generate a valid compensation claim as late as 2027. Employment records, accident reports, payroll documentation, and any evidence relating to workplace incidents must be retained for at least three years— not 12 months — from the date of the incident.
Employers who have historically disposed of accident records after a year should update their document retention policies immediately. A claim arriving two years after an incident for which records no longer exist puts the employer at a significant disadvantage in any Fund investigation.
The three-year window also applies to occupational disease claims, which are often diagnosed well after the exposure that caused them. For employers in industries with known occupational disease risk — construction (silica exposure), manufacturing (chemical exposure), healthcare (needlestick and infectious disease) — the extended window increases the period of potential claim exposure materially.
Change 3 — Employer liability for transport accidents expanded
Where an employer arranges transport for employees — staff shuttles, bakkies to construction sites, any form of employer-organised travel — the 2026 amendments extend COIDA liability to cover accidents from the point of pickup to the point of drop-off. This applies even where the accident is caused by a third-party driver rather than the employer directly.
An employee injured in a taxi that the employer arranged and paid for is now covered under COIDA in the same way as an employee injured at the worksite. The employer must report the accident to the Compensation Fund within 7 days and maintain transport records for five years.
For construction, engineering, security, and any business that operates shift workers or remote sites where transport is employer-arranged, this change expands the scope of COIDA compliance to include transport logistics that may previously have been considered outside its remit. Review your transport arrangements, ensure records of all employer-arranged travel are maintained, and confirm that transport incident reporting is included in your workplace accident reporting process.
Change 4 — Subcontractor liability now falls on the main employer
This is the change with the broadest practical impact for businesses operating with subcontracted labour.
Under the 2026 COIDA Amendment Act, where a subcontractor fails to register with the Compensation Fund or fails to pay their COIDA premiums, the main employer — the entity that engaged the subcontractor — is treated as the employer of those subcontracted workers for COIDA purposes. This means the main employer carries the liability for any workplace injury claims involving those workers.
For construction and civil engineering, where subcontracting is the norm rather than the exception, this change requires a fundamental shift in how contractors qualify and monitor their subcontractors. Awarding a subcontract to a firm that is not COIDA-compliant is no longer that firm’s problem — it becomes yours the moment one of their workers is injured on your site.
Before engaging any subcontractor, verify their COIDA registration status and confirm their Letter of Good Standing is current. Build this verification into your subcontractor onboarding process and repeat it at the start of each new engagement. A subcontractor whose LOGS expired between engagements passes the liability back to you.
Change 5 — Domestic workers now fully covered with enforcement
The inclusion of domestic workers under COIDA followed the Constitutional Court’s Mahlangu ruling in 2020 and the formal opening of household employer registration in March 2021. The 2026 COIDA Amendment Act closes the enforcement gap that existed in the interim period.
Department of Employment and Labour inspectors can now conduct unannounced visits to private homes and issue administrative fines on the spot for household employers who are not registered with the Compensation Fund. This is a significant change from the previous position, where enforcement against household employers was effectively theoretical.
If you employ a domestic worker, gardener, nanny, or caregiver and have not registered with the Compensation Fund, the risk of enforcement is no longer abstract. For a full guide to household employer obligations and how to register, see our COIDA domestic workers guide.
Change 6 — Rehabilitation obligations expanded
The 2026 amendments introduce a formal statutory rehabilitation framework. The Compensation Fund and individually liable employers are now required to provide clinical, vocational, and social rehabilitation to injured workers — not just medical treatment and compensation payments.
Clinical rehabilitation covers ongoing treatment and recovery. Vocational rehabilitation covers support for the injured worker to return to productive employment, including retraining where necessary. Social rehabilitation covers broader reintegration support.
Employers who actively participate in and support the rehabilitation of injured workers may be eligible for assessment rebatesunder the new framework — a financial incentive for engagement rather than avoidance. Employers who fail to support rehabilitation may face increased liability and reduced ability to dispute claims.
What you need to do right now
The 2026 COIDA Amendment Act makes enforcement faster and the financial consequences more immediate. The practical steps every employer should take now:
- Register if you haven’t. The 7-day registration obligation applies from the date of first employment. With administrative fines now enforceable on discovery, the cost of continued non-registration has increased significantly. If you are unregistered, see our COIDA registration guide.
- Submit your ROE if it is late. The 30 June 2026 deadline has passed. A 10% penalty has already been applied and interest is accruing. Submit now to stop the clock. See our missed COIDA deadline guide.
- Audit your accident reporting process. The 7-day reporting window for workplace accidents now carries immediate administrative fines for failure. Confirm that every site manager, line manager, and HR contact knows the window and the reporting process.
- Update your document retention policy. The 3-year claims window requires accident records, employment documentation, and workplace incident reports to be retained for three years minimum.
- Verify your subcontractors’ COIDA status. Before the next engagement, confirm that every subcontractor is registered and holds a current Letter of Good Standing. Build this into your onboarding checklist.
- Review employer-arranged transport. If you operate shuttle services, site transport, or any employer-organised travel, ensure transport incident reporting is included in your accident reporting process and that records are retained for five years.
The 2026 COIDA Amendment Act makes enforcement faster, the penalties larger, and the compliance obligations broader. The time to get compliant is before an inspector arrives — not after.