SACPCMP CHS Officer study guide
SACPCMP CHS Officer · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The SACPCMP Construction Health and Safety Officer (CHS Officer) registration assessment is the professional competency evaluation for candidates seeking registration in the Construction Health & Safety category of the built environment professions. It is intended for practitioners who already hold a construction health and safety qualification and relevant site experience, and who must now show they can apply that knowledge under legal, commercial and ethical pressure. The SACPCMP CHS Officer study guide has 5 sections and about 2,077 words.
01Occupational Health and Safety Legal and Regulatory Framework
You must be able to link a duty to the person who carries it. The Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 creates the core duties: s8 (employer's general duty to provide a safe workplace), s9 (duties to persons other than employees), s13 (information, training, instruction and supervision), s14 (employee duties), s16(2) (a body corporate's CEO must assign duties in writing), s17 (health and safety representatives, required from 20 employees), s19 (committees where two or more representatives exist), s24 (reporting specified incidents to the chief inspector), s25 (recording and investigation, records kept at least three years), s37 (liability of directors and mandataries) and s38 (offences).
340 words, about 2 min02Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Management
A hazard is the source of harm (an unguarded excavation, silica dust, a suspended load). A risk is the combination of the likelihood of harm and its severity (a worker falling 3 m onto rebar and dying).
369 words, about 2 min03Health and Safety Planning and Management Systems on Construction Sites
The client issues a project health and safety specification; the principal contractor converts it into a site-specific health and safety plan and method statements; on completion the health and safety file is handed to the client and kept available for inspection. A plan that merely repeats the specification is not a plan.
337 words, about 2 min04Site Inspection, Auditing, Incident Investigation and Reporting
An inspection is a planned, structured walk-through that checks physical conditions and behaviour against standards at a point in time. An audit is a systematic, evidence-based check of the management system against a defined standard, sampling records, interviews and observations.
350 words, about 2 min05Professional Ethics, Communication and Safety Training
Registration with the SACPCMP carries a code of conduct: honesty and integrity, competence within your scope, objectivity and independence, confidentiality of legitimately confidential information, disclosure of conflicts of interest, no misrepresentation of qualifications or findings, fairness and non-discrimination, and a continuing professional development obligation. The ethical pressure points on a construction site are predictable: a client or construction manager pushes you to sign off work you have not inspected; a subcontractor offers hospitality before an audit; a director asks you to soften an incident report; you are asked to disclose an employee's medical details to a supervisor who does not need them; you are told that a prohibition is 'commercially impossible'.
681 words, about 3 min