What the OHS Act requires you to have in place

South African law does not hand employers a single form to fill in. Instead, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Construction Regulations 2014 and the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act each ask for particular things to be in place, and an inspector can ask to see the records. This guide lists them as a checklist, in the order most businesses meet them, with each point linked to the law it comes from.

The Act does not use the words "management system". But taken together, the elements below are one: duties assigned to people, hazards found and controlled, people consulted, incidents reported, and a record that shows it was all done.

1. Your general duties

Section 8(1) requires every employer to "provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of his employees".^[1] Section 8(2) says what that includes. Check that you can show you:

• know the hazards that come with the work, the substances and the machinery in your business, and the precautions needed (8(2)(d))
• take reasonably practicable steps to remove or reduce hazards before relying on personal protective equipment (8(2)(b))
• give people the information, instructions, training and supervision they need to work safely (8(2)(e))
• do not let anyone work until the precautions are in place (8(2)(f))
• have the work supervised by someone trained to understand the hazards, with the authority to see that precautions are followed (8(2)(i))

The test throughout is "as far as is reasonably practicable". The records that show it are usually inspections, hazard reports with what was done about them, risk assessments and training records.

2. Section 16(2) appointments

The chief executive officer must, as far as is reasonably practicable, make sure the employer's duties under the Act are properly carried out (section 16(1)). The CEO may assign any of those duties to a person under their control, but "without derogating from his responsibility or liability" (section 16(2)).^[1] Check that:

• each assignment is in writing, so it is clear who holds which duty
• the person assigned is under the CEO's control and knows what they are responsible for
• appointments are reviewed when people or roles change

Our guide to Section 16(2) appointments goes into more detail.

3. Health and safety representatives and committees

An employer with more than 20 employees at a workplace must "designate in writing for a specified period" health and safety representatives for that workplace or its sections (section 17(1)). The employer and the employees, or their recognised representatives, consult in good faith on how representatives are nominated or elected (section 17(2)).^[1]

Where two or more representatives have been designated, the employer must establish one or more health and safety committees and consult them at every meeting (section 19(1)). The committee keeps a record of its recommendations to the employer and of any report it makes to an inspector (section 20(2)).^[1] Check that:

• representatives are designated in writing, with the period stated
• a committee exists once there are two or more representatives
• committee meetings, recommendations and reports are recorded

4. Incidents reported to an inspector

Section 24(1) requires certain incidents to be reported to an inspector "within the prescribed period and in the prescribed manner", by the employer or the user of the plant or machinery.^[1] They include incidents in which a person:

• dies, becomes unconscious or loses a limb or part of a limb
• is injured or becomes ill to the point that they are likely to die, to suffer a permanent physical defect, or to be unable to work or carry on with their usual activity for at least 14 days

Major incidents, and incidents where someone's health or safety was endangered because a dangerous substance was spilled, a substance under pressure was released, or machinery failed or ran out of control, must also be reported. Where someone died, was likely to die or lost a limb, nobody may disturb the site or remove anything involved without an inspector's consent, except to prevent a further incident, remove the injured or dead, or rescue people (section 24(2)).^[1]

Check that you have a way to record incidents as they happen, decide quickly whether section 24 applies, and keep proof of the report.

5. Occupational disease reports

Section 25 puts this duty on doctors, not employers. A medical practitioner who examines or treats someone for an occupational disease, or a disease they believe arose from the person's work, must report it to the person's employer and to the chief inspector.^[1] As the employer, expect to receive these reports and keep them with the rest of your health and safety records.

6. Construction: the health and safety plan and file

On construction work, the Construction Regulations 2014 add specific documents. A principal contractor must provide and demonstrate to the client "a suitable, sufficiently documented and coherent site specific health and safety plan", applied for the duration of the work and updated as work progresses (regulation 7(1)(a)).^[2] The principal contractor must also "open and keep on site a health and safety file, which must include all documentation required in terms of the Act and these Regulations", available on request to an inspector, the client, the client's agent or a contractor (regulation 7(1)(b)).^[2]

Each contractor has the same two duties for its own work, with its plan approved by the principal contractor (regulation 7(2)(a) and (b)).^[2] Check that:

• the site has a current, site specific health and safety plan
• the health and safety file is on site and complete
• a copy of the plan is available on request to an employee, an inspector, a contractor or the client (regulation 7(1)(d))
• a consolidated file goes to the client when the work is finished (regulation 7(1)(e))

The regulations in force are the Construction Regulations 2014. Draft replacement regulations were published for comment in March 2025;^[6] when this guide was last reviewed we found no final version in force.

7. Construction: risk assessments

Before and during construction work, a contractor must "have risk assessments performed by a competent person appointed in writing", and those assessments form part of the site's health and safety plan (regulation 9(1)).^[2] Each must include:

• the risks and hazards people may be exposed to
• an analysis and evaluation of them, based on a documented method
• a documented plan and safe work procedures to control them
• a monitoring plan
• a review plan

Employees must be informed and trained on the hazards and controls before work starts (regulation 9(3)), copies must be available on site to inspectors, employees, representatives and committee members among others (regulation 9(6)), and an assessment must be reviewed when the design or construction changes the risk, or after an incident (regulation 9(7)).^[2]

8. Injuries reported for compensation

Separately from section 24, the COID Act requires an employer to report an accident to the Compensation Commissioner "within seven days" of receiving notice of it or learning about it in some other way (section 39(1)).^[3] An accident includes any injury an employee reports as having happened at work, even if the employer disagrees (section 39(7)).^[3]

Check that injuries are recorded on the day, with the date you learned of each one, so the seven days can be tracked. Our guide to reporting injuries under the COID Act explains the process.

9. When an inspector asks

An inspector may enter a workplace "without previous notice", question anyone there, and require books, records and documents to be produced immediately or at a time and place the inspector sets (section 29(1)).^[1] Everything above only counts if you can find it when that happens. Check that your records are kept in one place, are dated, show who did what, and can be produced on request.

What is coming

Proposed, not current law. In May 2021 the Minister of Employment and Labour published the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment Bill, 2020, with its explanatory summary, in Government Gazette 44572.^[4] The Bill would add a definition of a "health and safety management system": "a co-ordinated, comprehensive set of interrelated or interacting elements to establish occupational health and safety policy and objectives in order to optimally manage health and safety".^[4]

In a statement dated 2 August 2022, the Department's Acting Chief Inspector, Phumudzo Maphaha, described five pillars of the proposed system:^[5]

Above, each pillar shows the ProComply features whose records support it. This is our own mapping, not the Department's, and it applies to a proposal: nothing in it is required by law today.

When this guide was last reviewed, the Bill had not been enacted. We could not find it on Parliament's or the Parliamentary Monitoring Group's lists of current bills, and the latest Department statement we found, from October 2023, said the Bill was at the "tail end" of conclusion.^[7] Until it is passed and comes into force, the duties in sections 1 to 9 above are the law. We will update this guide if that changes.

Where ProComply holds each record

For each requirement above, this is the ProComply feature that keeps the record, and what ProComply does not do for you. The same list of limits appears on our honest comparison page.