Contractors Corner
THE BURDEN OF
INCONSISTENCY ON A VERY TOUCHY SUBJECT
Submitted by an industry professional
Safety files and safety officers – a different requirment for every site creates undeserved weight for all contractors . A simplified system should be sought out by stakeholders .
This article is not about cutting corners and taking chances , but if you have been on the short end of the stick when it comes to a site ’ s safety compliance requirements , you are not alone . This has been a particular challenge for the industry for many years .
Companies already spend up to hundreds of thousands of rands annually to have employees certified in various forms of safety and compliance with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act ( OHSA ).
This employee training and certification also takes between 10 and 15 days of additional manpower a year ( on average ) per employee , and covers refresher training and even so far as the need to remove bad habits or short-cuts that are developed over the years , so , a contractor ’ s teams are usually well-equipped in this regard by default .
In order to firstly qualify wih the requirements for a safety file when working on a site , contractors must ensure their staff are correctly trained in various degrees of competence , including roles such as : safety compliance , fire fighting , first aid , scaffold erecting , working at height , scaffold inspectors , and so on , on top of competence in working with tools and regular medical tests .
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Site safety will always be extremely important , but more consistency for safety files and site safety officers is needed from the contractors ’ point of view .
www . hvacronline . co . za RACA Journal I January 2021 65