Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has expressed shock and anger at yet another factory blaze in Paarl which left six workers hospitalised for smoke inhalation.

The fire at Novo Food Packers is said to have broken out at around 21h30, only three days after a similar accident that left nine workers dead and eleven others seriously injured at a media printing factory just about three kilometres away in the same industrial area.

Commenting on the latest incident, Minister Mdladlana said the frequency of fatalities and injuries at work places was a clear indication that employers were not taking the health and safety of their workers seriously as it remained the responsibility of the employer to assure the safety of workers.

“While we can be grateful that no lives have been lost, it is still shocking and angering that this kind of incidents can happen at such frequency in one area".

"Workers go to the workplaces to make a living not to die. No business or employment is worth the lives of workers,” he said.

Labour inspectors, together with fire extinguishers were at the scene within minutes of the fire breakout, they are still trying to establish the possible cause of the fire. The Minister wished the injured a speedy recovery.