SACPCMP CHS Officer key terms

South Africa's principal statute on workplace health and safety. It places a general duty on employers to provide a safe working environment and underpins the regulations, including the Construction Regulations, that apply on site.

Regulations issued under the OHS Act that set specific duties for clients, designers, principal contractors and contractors on construction sites, covering risk assessment, appointments, fall protection, construction work permits and the health and safety file.

A legal test weighing the severity of the harm and the likelihood of it occurring against the cost, effort and difficulty of the measures needed to remove or reduce that harm.

A written appointment by a chief executive under the OHS Act assigning specific health and safety duties to a named employee, who must have the necessary authority, training and resources to carry them out.

A written agreement in which a contractor accepts responsibility for compliance with the OHS Act for work it performs for a client, with the client keeping a copy and passing it to an inspector on request.

An employee elected by fellow workers under section 17 of the OHS Act to represent them on health and safety matters, conduct inspections and raise concerns with the employer, after appropriate training.

A joint forum of employer and employee representatives, required in certain workplaces, that reviews health and safety performance, investigates incidents and recommends improvements to the employer.

Written permission from the client, required before construction work starts on certain projects, confirming that the contractor's health and safety plan has been assessed and that arrangements meet the Construction Regulations.

A formal notice of intention to start construction work submitted to the Department of Employment and Labour, with the required particulars, before work begins on projects covered by the Construction Regulations.

A person who has the training, experience, knowledge and qualifications needed to perform a specific task safely and correctly, as required by the relevant regulation or standard.

The systematic process of finding and recording anything at the workplace that could cause harm to people, damage to property or harm to the environment, before deciding how to control it.

The combination of how likely a hazard is to cause harm and how serious that harm would be, often expressed as a rating on a matrix.

A broad, initial assessment of the significant hazards associated with a project or site as a whole, used to set the overall risk profile before detailed, task-specific assessments are done.

A focused assessment carried out for a specific task, activity, change or problem, such as a new method or an incident, using a formal team approach and recorded findings.

The preferred order for reducing risk: eliminate the hazard, substitute it, use engineering controls, then administrative controls, with personal protective equipment as the last resort.

A table that rates risk by combining likelihood and consequence ratings so that risks can be ranked, compared and prioritised for action.

A formal written authorisation for high-risk work such as confined space entry or hot work, setting out the precautions, isolations and checks that must be completed before and during the task.

Items worn or used by a worker to protect against a specific hazard, such as a hard hat, harness or respirator; it is the last line of defence in the hierarchy of controls.

A principle requiring risks to be reduced as low as is reasonably practicable, so that further control would cost grossly disproportionate effort compared with the benefit gained.

A project-specific document prepared by the contractor describing how hazards will be managed on site, including risk assessments, appointments, procedures, training and emergency arrangements, before work starts.

A file kept on site containing the project's health and safety documentation, such as the plan, appointments, risk assessments, registers and incident records, open to inspection by officials and representatives.

An international standard for occupational health and safety management systems that sets requirements for leadership, worker participation, risk control, performance evaluation and continual improvement.

A documented plan required when work at height carries a fall risk, describing the fall hazards, the chosen control measures, rescue arrangements and the persons responsible for implementing it.

Arrangements for dealing with foreseeable emergencies on site, covering warning, evacuation, first aid, rescue, communication and the roles and drills needed to test them.

A planned, systematic walk-through of the workplace to check conditions, behaviour and controls against standards, with findings recorded and actions assigned to responsible people.

A structured, documented evaluation of the health and safety management system against a defined standard or legal requirement, checking whether arrangements are in place and actually working.

A documented instance where a practice, condition or record fails to meet a legal requirement, a standard or a planned arrangement, which must be corrected and closed out.

The steps taken to fix the cause of a detected non-conformance or incident so that it does not recur, including assigning responsibility, setting a deadline and verifying effectiveness.

An undesired event arising from work that caused or could have caused injury, illness, damage or loss, including near misses and dangerous occurrences.

An unplanned event that did not cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so, and which should be reported and investigated to prevent a repeat with worse outcomes.

A structured method, such as the five whys or a fishbone diagram, used to trace an incident beyond immediate causes to the underlying management or system failures that allowed it.

An incident that the employer must report to a Department of Employment and Labour inspector, such as a fatality, serious injury, dangerous occurrence or certain occupational disease, using the prescribed form.

A work-related injury that keeps the injured person away from work for at least one full shift beyond the day of the incident, and is recorded for performance measurement.

The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, which provides compensation to workers injured or made ill by work and requires employers to report claims and pay assessments.

The principles and standards of conduct expected of a registered health and safety professional, including honesty, competence, fairness, respect for people and putting public safety ahead of personal gain.

A situation where a professional's personal, financial or other interest could improperly influence their judgement, which must be disclosed and managed, or the work declined.

The duty to keep personal, medical and commercially sensitive information learned at work private, sharing it only with those who need it for a legitimate purpose.

A short, informal briefing at the workface before a task, covering the hazards, controls and safe method for the day's work, with questions and feedback encouraged.

An introduction given to everyone entering a site, covering the site rules, hazards, emergency procedures and required PPE, completed and recorded before work begins.