Inside this issue...

-    So what did the company do wrong?
-    What if the incident was the direct result of employee negligence?

Dear Reader,

Earlier this month you might have read about the two construction workers involved in an incident at a construction site at Carnival City in Brakpan. A concrete slab fell and killed the one worker, and injured the other. The Department of Labour halted construction immediately, and served the construction company with a prohibition notice, stopping all work until a formal investigation is complete.

So what did the company do wrong?

It’s possible that the company didn’t follow all necessary steps to ensure it complied with the OHSA before it began work.  

Your six-step non-negotiable procedure for every project

Ensure you follow all six steps so you aren’t faced with the same situation in future:

Step #1: The client appoints an agent to act on his behalf. This includes the health and safety management of the project (Construction Regulation 4(5)).

Step #2: The client or agent must prepare a site-specific health and safety specification for the project (Construction Regulation 4(1)(a)).

Step #3: The principal contractor must prepare a site-specific health and safety plan for the project, based on the health and safety specification of the client or agent (Construction Regulation 5(1)).

Step #4: The principal contractor must provide the client with a letter of good standing from the Compensation Commissioner or the Federated Employers Mutual Insurance Company (FEM) (Construction Regulation 4(1)(g)).

Step #5: The client must ensure the agent and principal contractor are competent in health and safety (Construction Regulation 4 and 5).

Step #6: You must appoint a full-time, competent employee as a Construction Supervisor. This automatically includes all health and safety aspects (Construction Regulation 6).

In the name of safety,

Christel Fouché
Editor-In-Chief: Health and Safety Advisor