OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY

Legal requirements as per the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Act 85 of 1993 and its regulations:

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All employers whose workforce is exposed to or has a potential to be exposed to health hazards emanating from the workplace which may cause adverse health impacts, take note of the following:

1. A Health Risk Assessment must be conducted to assess the risk of exposure of their employees to occupational hygiene stressors such as noise, hazardous chemical substances and ergonomics.

2. An Occupational Hygiene Program must then developed, implemented, maintained and reviewed based on the results of the Health Risk Assessment.

3. Where the Health Risk Assessment and the subsequent Occupational Hygiene Program indicate a need for monitoring, the employer must ensure that such monitoring is conducted for the relevant occupational hygiene stressors and the results are communicated to the affected parties. N: B: The monitoring/survey (for regulated activities) shall be conducted by a SANAS 17020 accredited and Department of Labour Approved Inspection Authority.

4. The employer must ensure that all proof of communication of monitoring results is kept safe, that the recommendations made on the final report are implemented including the closing of all actions developed from the action plan.

5. Ensure that the hierarchy of controls is adhered to whenever implementing control measures and those employees are provided with personal protective equipment where applicable. N: B: Training on the use, storage and maintenance of PPE must be conducted before any issue of PPE.

6. Where employees are exposed to dust that may or contains free crystalline silica quartz, the employer must above and beyond conducting air monitoring and implementing controls also submit the silica report to the Department of Labour on an annual (yearly) basis.

7. Employers who use their in-house or internal Approved Inspection Authorities must submit all their 6 monthly returns reports to the Department of Labour.