Louis’ Blog

Louis' Blog

As a tribute to Louis van Assen’s lifelong contribution to Workers’ Compensation, we have elected to keep his blogs up on our site for all to read. Please read with renewed appreciation these insights derived from his ongoing commitment to a field in which he believed.


“To err is human, to really screw up you need a computer.”  (Anonymous from Wikiquote) Statutory benchmarks You will recall (read “remember”, not the recall of politicians) that I promised to supply y …

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Introduction Last month we looked at the stringent rules introduced in the COID Act to encourage people to adhere to the provisions of the Act.  We also discussed the reason for this namely to ensure …

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“The perfect bureaucrat everywhere is the man who manages to make no decisions and escape all responsibility. ” BROOKS ATKINSON, “Once around the sun” 1951 Penalties and other punishments In the COID …

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The consultant A decade and more ago the appointment by a manager of a consultant implied at least one of two issues namely: 1. that the manager was either incompetent or 2. the manager was per se cor …

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I am in a very helpful frame of mind at present.  I cannot pinpoint the reason for this congenial attitude but rest assure it could be to your benefit.  Being in this mood I have decided to list a few …

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I often wonder how many of the injuries reported by employers to their employees are fraudulent. As there are no statistics in this regard it will, I think, always be a matter for speculation. Seeing …

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Introduction “Oh what a relief that will be! I can be exempted from the COID Act. No more hassles with the office of the Compensation Commissioner. Imagine what I can save in the form of telephone cal …

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Our Immigrant population We all know how many legal and illegal immigrants are at present residing in South Africa.  Numerous figures relating to the number of illegal persons are being bandied about. …

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February 2008

Introduction I could not believe my eyes when I read the February 2008 magazine articles, press releases, letters to the authorities and believe it or not, even a SABC 3, “Special Assignment” program …

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Memories, but not always sweet. You all know the feeling at the end of the year when the calm sets in and you have time to do some introspection.  You take stock of the matters encountered during the …

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