ASSOCIATIONS
11
Safety alert:
legal liabilities
The health and safety framework for South Africa is
governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
By IOPSA
WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES?
We may at times feel the frustration of not
being compliant on a site or being delayed due
to safety files not being correct, or simply being
told that we need to have a safety file. Why is
this so important? And how can we ensure we
are always compliant when doing our work?
IMPORTANCE
To understand why it is important, we just need
to look at the purpose of the Occupational
Health and Safety Act which is: “To protect
workers from health and safety hazards on
the job.”
This is the essence of the law: to keep us safe.
Would you agree with this statement? If so,
you would then agree that everyone involved
should take this law seriously and work toward
achieving a safe working environment.
HOW?
This is where we would need to understand
our liabilities, or what our role or scope is in
terms of this law. For this we just need to read
and understand its application. Let us look at
only one section of the 50 sections of this act
to see how these legal liabilities affect the work
we do and how it should affect our behaviour
toward safety as a whole.
Section 14 –“Duty of the Employee”:
1. take reasonable care for the health and
safety of themselves and of other persons.
2. co-operate with your employer or person in
charge in the interest of safety.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
Along with this Act, additional regulations
have been designed to assist in guiding
organisations toward a compliance
system of works – or essentially, a safe
working environment.
3. carry out any lawful order given, and
obey the health and safety rules
and procedures.
4. if any situation which is unsafe or
unhealthy comes to their attention,
as soon as practicable, report such
a situation.
5. if they are involved in any incident which
may affect their health or which has
caused an injury to themselves, report
such incident to their employer, to an
authorised person, or to his health and
safety representative as soon as possible,
but not later than the end of the shift
during which the incident occurred.
This is only a summary of the section, which
should be considered in its whole form.
FINAL NOTE
Next time you are preparing to start a job or
task, why not stop for a few moments and
consider what the implications of the law are
in your situation. If you find that you need to
work more safely, get help!
Reach out to us or other industry
professionals to assist you in the compliance
you deserve, and stay safe! PA
July 2019 Volume 25 I Number 5