Since 23 January 2026, the COIDA Amendment Act of 2022 has been in force, and four sets of regulations published on 6 March 2026 spell out exactly what employers must now do. The prescription period has tripled, a statutory rehabilitation duty now applies, and psychological injury is formally in scope. Here is what changes for your records.
In brief
On 23 January 2026, the President brought key provisions of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act 10 of 2022 into force, phased through 1 February and 1 April 2026. On 6 March 2026, the Minister published four sets of regulations giving those provisions practical effect, including a detailed rehabilitation and return-to-work framework. For an employer registered for COIDA, four changes now matter in practice: the period in which a worker can bring a claim has extended from twelve months to three years, a new statutory duty requires employers to support an injured worker's rehabilitation and return to work, post-traumatic stress disorder is now recognised as a compensable occupational disease, and a strengthened inspectorate has wider powers to enter, question and act on non-compliance. None of these is optional extras. They are dated, documentable obligations that belong in your compliance record, not a filing cabinet.
Background
COIDA has governed compensation for workplace injury and occupational disease in South Africa since 1993. The 2022 Amendment Act was signed into law but sat largely dormant until Proclamation Notice 306 of 2026 activated its core provisions this year, with the regulations that operationalise the new duties following in March. The result is the most significant modernisation of the compensation regime in a generation, and it lands at the same time the Department of Employment and Labour has been publicly shifting its posture from paper compliance to demonstrable, evidenced systems across the whole of 2026.
Analysis
Four changes carry the most weight for an ordinary employer.
The prescription period
A claim under sections 38, 39, 43, 44 or 65 of COIDA can now be lodged up to three years after the date of the accident, the diagnosis of an occupational disease, or the date of treatment, up from twelve months. That triples the window in which a historical incident can resurface as a claim, and it means your incident records, medical reports and witness statements need to survive three years of retrievability, not one.
The rehabilitation and return to work duty
A new Chapter VIIA inserted into COIDA creates a statutory rehabilitation and reintegration framework. It places positive obligations on the Compensation Fund, employers and licensees to provide the facilities, services and benefits needed to help an injured or ill employee return to work or reduce their disability, with a possible assessment rebate for employers who participate. This is a new, active duty. It is no longer enough to report the injury and process the claim. An employer now needs a documented return to work plan for each affected worker.
PTSD as an occupational disease
Post-traumatic stress disorder is formally recognised as compensable under the amended Act. Combined with injuries sustained during work-related training and during employer-provided commuting, which now also fall within scope, this widens what counts as a work-related harm considerably beyond physical injury on site.
A stronger inspectorate
The amendments introduce a new inspectorate framework with wide powers of entry, questioning, copying of documents and removal of items, and non-compliance can now escalate to a Labour Court compliance order. Employers must also keep an earnings and employee register for at least five years, and the period to object to or appeal a Commissioner's decision has extended from 180 days to twelve months.
Practical implications: what this means for you
Work through these before your next COIDA renewal or Return of Earnings submission.
Extend your retention horizon. Incident reports, medical certificates and correspondence tied to a claim now need to be retrievable for three years minimum, and your earnings and employee register for five years. If your current filing system assumes a twelve-month claims window, it is already out of date.
Build a return to work record for every injury. When an employee is injured or diagnosed with an occupational disease, document the rehabilitation plan, who is responsible for each step, and the dates it was reviewed. This is now a statutory duty, not a goodwill gesture.
Update your incident intake to capture psychological harm. If your accident reporting process only has fields for physical injury, it will not capture a PTSD claim correctly. Review how your business records trauma exposure, particularly for roles with exposure to violence, robbery or serious accidents.
Check your Letter of Good Standing is current. A stronger inspectorate with Labour Court escalation powers raises the cost of a lapsed COIDA registration considerably. Confirm your Return of Earnings is filed, and your letter is valid before an inspector asks.
Brief whoever handles your claims. The extended appeal period and the new inspectorate powers change how a dispute plays out. Make sure the person who manages your COIDA claims knows the new timelines.
The GRC Shop view
The pattern in this amendment is the same one running through most of 2026's regulatory changes: the state is converting compliance from a point-in-time event into a continuously evidenced record. A three-year prescription period is meaningless if your records only last one year. A rehabilitation duty is meaningless without a document trail showing you did it. On the GRC Shop platform, the COIDA obligation lives as tracked items on the same live calendar as your appointment letters and other statutory dates: the Return of Earnings deadline, the Letter of Good Standing expiry, and, as we extend the platform, the retention window for claims records. The point is not to file paperwork faster. It is to make sure that when an inspector, or a claim, arrives three years from now, the record is still there and still makes sense.
Abbreviations
COIDA: Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993
DEL: Department of Employment and Labour
PTSD: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
SME: Small and Medium Enterprise
References
- Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, "COIDA amendments now in force: a new era for workplace injury compensation in South Africa", 12 March 2026. Link
- CMS, "From penalties to rehabilitation: understanding the 2026 COIDA amendments and its impact on workplace risk", 2026. Link
- Bowmans, "South Africa: the COIDA, key amendments come into effect", 2026. Link