When selecting an occupational health and safety training provider, it’s crucial to choose a provider accredited by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO). The QCTO is the official controlling body for the accreditation of all occupational qualifications, part-qualifications, and skills programmes in South Africa. This includes first aid training, evacuation planning training, and various health and safety courses such as Health and Safety Representative and Supervisor, incident investigation, HIRA/Risk Assessment, etc.
To gain QCTO accreditation, training providers are required to undergo a thorough and comprehensive quality assurance process. This means that organisations receiving training from QCTO-accredited training providers can rest assured knowing that the training they receive will be of a high quality and in line with nationally recognised curriculum requirements.
The QCTO performs a range of functions, including the following:
If a health and safety training provider is accredited by the QCTO, it means that they have passed the QCTO’s robust quality assurance process. During this process, training providers are assessed based on the following criteria:
Course material and FISAs (Final Integrated Supervised Assessments) for the skills programmes they wish to offer
Choosing a QCTO-accredited training provider is important for the following reasons:
Legal compliance: The QCTO is the public entity responsible for assessing Skills Development Providers and Skills Development Programmes to ensure that they meet training regulatory compliance requirements. The Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL) requires health and safety training providers to be accredited by the QCTO. Opting for training facilitated by an unaccredited provider does not meet legal compliance requirements and may leave you vulnerable to non-compliance, resulting in possible non-conformance notices, which could lead to shutdowns and fines.
Quality assurance: QCTO-accredited training providers have met strict criteria and successfully completed a lengthy quality assurance process. This means that health and safety training offered by these providers is generally ensured to be of a high quality.
Relevant curriculum and course content: When developing the new occupational health and safety skills programmes, the QCTO worked hand in hand with the Health and Welfare Sector Education Training Authority (HWSETA), health and safety subject matter experts, industry role players, and private training providers to develop courses that align with current industry needs and equip delegates with relevant, applicable skills.
Nationally recognised certifications: All QCTO skills programmes are registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and recognised all over South Africa.
QCTO-accredited training providers are issued with an approval accreditation letter that endorses them to present specific skills programmes. The training provider will also be issued with a unique QCTO accreditation number (Absolute Health Services’ accreditation number is SDP050324165503).
You can check whether a health and safety training provider is accredited by checking the QCTO’s database of accredited Skills Development Providers and Assessment Centres. This database displays accredited training providers and indicates which skills programmes each provider is endorsed to present. Alternatively, you can contact the QCTO directly to check the accreditation status of any prospective training provider.
QCTO accreditation provides peace of mind that the training you receive will give your team the knowledge and skills they need to effectively perform their health and safety functions, protecting both your employees and your business.Absolute Health Services is fully accredited by the QCTO. Contact us to discuss your health and safety training needs.
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