OHS legal compliance in South Africa: Where businesses fall short and how to fix it

Failing to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act can have serious legal and financial consequences for employers. Depending on the nature and severity of the offence, organisations and responsible individuals may face substantial fines, imprisonment, or both. Where negligence results in a serious injury or fatality, criminal liability may also apply. 

In addition to legal penalties, non-compliance can lead to Department of Employment and Labour enforcement action, business disruptions, reputational damage, increased insurance costs, civil claims, and the loss of contracts. 

Investing in OHS legal compliance is therefore not only a legal obligation but also an essential step in protecting your people, your reputation, and your business. In this guide, we’ll look at some of the most common areas where businesses fall short and provide guidance on how to fill those gaps.

The importance of Section 8 of the OHS Act

Before we look at common OHS compliance errors, let’s unpack the core requirements of Section 8 of the OHS Act. Section 8 is a very important section that outlines many of the employer’s main duties under the Act. Focusing on meeting the requirements laid out in this section is a good starting point for any business looking to achieve full OHS legal compliance.

Section 8 states that as far as is reasonably practicable, employers must:

• Provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of employees.
• Take steps to eliminate or mitigate any hazard or potential hazard before resorting to personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Provide the information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure that employees can perform their work safely and without risks to health.
• Enforce the necessary health and safety measures, not just during normal operating conditions but during emergencies and abnormal situations.
• Ensure that work is performed and that plant and machinery are used under the general supervision of a person who has been trained to understand the hazards associated with it, and is authorised to ensure that precautionary measures are taken.

Where South African businesses commonly fall short of achieving OHS legal compliance

After years of supporting businesses across multiple industries with their OHS compliance, we’ve seen the same gaps again and again. Here is where employers most often drop the ball on complying with the OHS Act:

1. Failing to carrying out annual risk assessments

Hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA) is a vitally important aspect of OHS legal compliance. Done properly, HIRA is a structured, systematic, and repeated process of identifying hazards, evaluating the associated risks, and implementing controls to eliminate them or reduce them to an acceptable level. HIRA must be conducted annually or whenever the workplace changes, for example after the introduction of new equipment, new processes, new premises, new regulations, etc.

A properly conducted HIRA process should include:

• A structured hazard identification procedure designed to identify physical, chemical, environmental, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards.
• An assessment of who might be harmed and how, including employees, contractors, and visitors.
• A recognised risk evaluation methodology, typically using a risk matrix that assesses risk level based on the likelihood and severity of a potential incident.
• Documented control measures, prioritised according to the hierarchy of controls; elimination first, then substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE last.
• Creating a risk register to track the risk management process and to build a risk profile specifically for your workplace. 

2. Failing to appoint the correct OHS team members

South African businesses are legally required to make a series of formal OHS team appointments based on their size and risk profile. These team members must sign formal appointment letters that clearly outline their role and duties and specify a time frame for the appointment duration. 

Most businesses should appoint, at a minimum, the following OHS team members:

• Health and Safety Representatives (legally required when a business employs 20 or more people) 
• First Aiders (legally required when a business employs 10 or more employees and thereafter one First Aider per group of 50 employees)
• Health and Safety Supervisors
• Fire Wardens and Evacuation Marshals (industry best practice is to appoint one Fire Warden and one Evacuation Marshal per group of 50 employees)

Other OHS team members may be required based on your company’s unique needs, size, layout, and the nature of work done. 

3. Insufficient OHS training

OHS team members must undergo sufficient training that equips them to properly execute their OHS functions. This training must be facilitated by OHS training providers accredited by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and, in the case of first aid training, approved by the DoEL.

Another common OHS legal compliance failure is allowing OHS training certificates to lapse. First aid certificates are generally only valid for three years, at which point the First Aider needs to attend a refresher course or opt to upskill by attend a higher level first aid course. Other OHS certificates (like Firefighting, Health and Safety Representative, etc.) are only valid for two years.

4. Incomplete or inconsistent record keeping

DoEL inspectors will ask to view documentation proving that a business has adequately fulfilled their duties under the OHS Act. As such, accurate record keeping is a vital aspect of proving OHS legal compliance. Ensure that your Health and Safety File includes at least the following formal documentation:

• Health and safety policy
• Health and Safety Representative monthly workplace inspection checklists
• OHS team appointment letters and organogram
• OHS team training certificates
• Risk assessments and risk register
• Evacuation procedures 
• Evacuation drill reports
• Incident and injury reports
• Health and Safety Committee meeting minutes

5. Failing to conduct bi-annual evacuation drills

An evacuation or fire drill may seem like an inconvenience, but performing two evacuation drills per year is a legal requirement that applies to all South African businesses. In addition, practicing and testing your evacuation procedure and emergency preparedness equipment through regular drills is absolutely vital for spotting problems and implementing improvements.

How to address these compliance gaps

Closing OHS legal compliance gaps is about building a holistic health and safety management system that is effective, consistently implemented, and properly documented. Here is the practical path forward:

Start with an OHS compliance assessment Before attempting to fix anything, it’s important to understand precisely where you stand. A proper OHS compliance assessment, conducted by a qualified, independent OHS Practitioner, reviews your OHS systems, processes, policies, and documentation against the requirements of the OHS Act and its regulations. It identifies the gaps and provides you with a compliance rating in the form of a percentage.

Conduct a HIRA Identifying hazards and putting risk control measures in place is a key element of an effective OHS management system. Absolute Health Services offers HIRA training that equips your OHS team with the skills and knowledge required to conduct a systematic and comprehensive HIRA. Alternatively, our OHS Practitioners can come to your premises to carry out a risk assessment on your behalf.

Review your OHS team organogram and ensure that all training is up to date Ensure that you have appointed all the necessary OHS team members and check that their training certificates are up to date. Ensure all OHS-related training is delivered by a QCTO- or HWSETA-accredited and DoEL-registered provider.

Build genuine ownership of health and safety culture across management Compliance cannot live solely with a single Health and Safety Officer or external provider. Supervisors and line managers need to understand and actively enforce health and safety standards as part of their core management responsibility, not as a separate function delegated elsewhere.

Establish a consistent, centralised record-keeping system Whether physical or digital, your Health and Safety File needs to be complete, current, organised, and instantly retrievable in the event of a DoEL inspection or incident investigation. 

Treat compliance as continuous, not episodic Build a recurring schedule of compliance activity – regular site visits, scheduled reviews, ongoing training renewal – rather than reactive scrambling ahead of a known inspection or tender deadline.

Appoint a Health and Safety Officer Appointing a Health and Safety Officer to oversee health and safety across the entire organisation (also called a 16.2 Appointee) allows the CEO to focus on core business activities while OHS legal compliance is taken care of by a capable, knowledgeable person. 

How Absolute Health Services can help businesses achieve full OHS legal compliance

Absolute Health Services has helped many South African businesses achieve OHS legal compliance. Our team includes qualified OHS Practitioners, HPCSA-registered paramedics, and ISO 45001 external implementers with extensive operational experience across multiple industries.

Our services include:

• OHS compliance assessments – an evidence-based evaluation of your current compliance status against the OHS Act and its regulations, identifying gaps in a detailed report.
• Hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA) – structured, properly documented risk assessments conducted by experienced OHS Practitioners and risk assessors.
• Accredited OHS training – First Aid, Firefighting, Evacuation Planning, Health and Safety Representative, and Health and Safety Officer courses, delivered by experienced, expert facilitators and tracked for renewal.
• OHS file compilation and maintenance – building and maintaining a centralised, current, and inspection-ready record of your OHS compliance activity.
• Ongoing OHS management services – regular site visits and continuous compliance support, helping your organisation build health and safety into daily operations rather than treating it as an occasional event.

Whether you need an assessment of where your business currently stands, or comprehensive support to close the gaps and build an effective OHS programme, our team is ready to help.