In brief
A common reason a small business never gets its safety appointments on paper is a reasonable one: nobody on the staff has OHS training, and nobody wants to sign a letter that makes them responsible for something they do not understand. The Occupational Health and Safety Act does not ask for a qualification at that step. Section 16(2) lets a chief executive officer assign any of the employer's duties to "any person under his control", and it attaches no course, certificate or registration to that person. [1][2] What it does attach is control: the person acts "subject to the control and directions of the chief executive officer", and the assignment does not reduce the chief executive officer's own responsibility under section 16(1). [1][2] So the honest answer to the person who hesitates is that signing does not make them the safety expert, and it does not take the responsibility off the owner. Training does come into it, but at specific, named points in the law rather than at the signature.
What section 16 actually says
Section 16 is four short subsections, and the first three are the ones that matter to a small employer. [1][2]
- Section 16(1). Every chief executive officer must, as far as is reasonably practicable, ensure that the duties of the employer under the Act are properly discharged.
- Section 16(2). Without derogating from that responsibility or liability, the chief executive officer may assign any of those duties to any person under his control, and that person acts subject to the control and directions of the chief executive officer.
- Section 16(3). Section 16(1) does not, subject to section 37, relieve the employer of any responsibility or liability under the Act.
Three things follow from the text alone. First, the person assigned must be under the chief executive officer's control, which in a small business usually means an employee, often a manager or senior staff member. Second, there is no prescribed qualification for that person. Third, the assignment adds a person to the chain of responsibility; it does not remove anyone from it. The owner who signs a section 16(2) letter remains answerable under section 16(1), and the employer remains answerable as the employer. [1][2]
Where training is actually required
The Act and its regulations do require training and competence, but at defined points rather than as a precondition for every appointment.
- Information, instruction, training and supervision. Section 8(2)(e) requires the employer to provide such information, instructions, training and supervision as may be necessary to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of employees at work. [1] The duty sits with the employer and is measured by what the work needs.
- Supervision of hazardous work. Section 8(2)(i) requires that work is performed, and plant or machinery used, under the general supervision of a person trained to understand the hazards associated with it and who has the authority to ensure that the employer's precautionary measures are implemented. [1] This is the closest the Act comes to a competence test, and it is tied to the work being supervised, not to the signing of a letter.
- Making employees conversant with hazards. Section 13(a) requires every employer, as far as is reasonably practicable, to make every employee conversant with the hazards attached to their work and with the precautionary measures to be taken. [1]
- First aiders. General Safety Regulation 3 requires a first aider where more than 10 employees are employed at a workplace, and the first aider must hold a certificate from a body approved by the Chief Inspector. [3] This is a named appointment with a named qualification, and it is separate from a section 16(2) assignment.
- Health and safety representatives. Section 17(1) requires an employer with more than 20 employees at a workplace to designate health and safety representatives in writing for a specified period. [1] A small shop or practice below that number has no section 17 duty at that workplace.
Read together, these provisions describe a sensible order. Decide who is accountable, in writing. Work out what the hazards of the work actually are. Then train the people who do or supervise that work in what it needs. A course is the third step, not the first.
When the premises have flooded
Flooding is the case where this question tends to arrive, because something has gone wrong and the owner suddenly needs someone on site to be in charge of putting it right.
Since 06 March 2025 the General Safety Regulations have carried a specific duty on flooding. Regulation 13I(1) provides that where a substantial risk exists that a workplace may be flooded, the employer shall take measures to be informed forthwith of any imminent flooding. [4][5] Regulation 13I(2) adds a duty to be informed forthwith of imminent flooding from constructions for conserving water, or which may cause water to converge or accumulate on the employer's premises. [4] Contravention of regulation 13I is an offence under the amended regulation 14. [4][5]
Two practical consequences follow. A workplace that has flooded once has, in most cases, shown that a substantial risk exists, so regulation 13I(1) is now the employer's to address, and the measure taken should be written down. And where water reached the electrical installation, the Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 allow an inspector or an approved inspection authority who finds a fault to require the user or lessor to obtain a new certificate of compliance, and require a circuit that is an immediate danger to be disconnected. [6] Our companion article on why the electrical certificate of compliance has no expiry date covers who holds that certificate under a lease.
Five questions before anyone signs
1. Who is the chief executive officer for this workplace under section 16(1), and do they accept that signing an assignment does not move their own responsibility? [1]
2. Which duties are being assigned, and does the letter name them, rather than assigning "health and safety" in general? [1]
3. Does the person assigned have the authority, the time and the budget to act on what they find, given that they act subject to the chief executive officer's control and directions? [1]
4. What training does the work itself require under sections 8(2)(e), 8(2)(i) and 13(a), and who has received it? [1]
5. Once more than 10 employees are at the workplace, who is the certificated first aider, and when does the certificate need renewing? [3]
GRC Shop view
This section is interpretation, kept separate from the sourced facts above.
The reluctance to sign is, in our view, mostly right about the risk and wrong about the remedy. The person being asked to sign is right that a letter without support behind it is a liability. The remedy is not to leave the duty unassigned until someone has done a course. Unassigned, the duty still sits with the owner, and nothing is written down to show that anyone was looking after it.
A useful way to put it to the person being asked: you are not signing to say you are a safety expert. You are signing to say you will look after named things, report to the owner, and ask for what you need. The owner, for their part, is signing to say they will listen. Then the training follows the hazards, which in a small shop or office are usually few and specific: first aid, fire and evacuation, electrical safety, and whatever the flood or the last incident exposed.
The letter itself is also the document most likely to go stale. People leave, roles change, and a letter signed by someone who resigned last year still sits in the file reading as if it were current. Compliance files go stale. Our system keeps yours current: the OHS app holds each appointment against the person, the duty and the date, so a lapsed or orphaned appointment shows up before an inspector asks for it.
Get a quote for the OHS app.
Abbreviations
- CEO: chief executive officer
- OHS: Occupational Health and Safety
References
[1] Republic of South Africa, "Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993" (Government Gazette print; sections 8, 13, 16 and 17), 1993. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/act85of1993.pdf
[2] Southern African Legal Information Institute, "Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993" (consolidated text, section 16), 1993. https://www.saflii.org/za/legis/consol_act/ohasa1993273/
[3] Republic of South Africa, "General Safety Regulations (regulation 3, first aid), made under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993", as amended. https://www.gov.za/documents/occupational-health-and-safety-act
[4] Department of Employment and Labour, "Occupational Health and Safety Act: Regulations: General Safety, Notice 5954, Government Gazette 52226", 06 Mar 2025. https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202503/52226gon5954.pdf
[5] ENSafrica, "South Africa: Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (OHASA), Physical Agents Regulations 2024, Noise Exposure Regulations 2024, and Amendment of the General Safety Regulations 2025", 11 Mar 2025. https://www.ensafrica.com/news/detail/9836
[6] Department of Employment and Labour, "Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, Government Notice R242, Government Gazette 31975", 06 Mar 2009. https://www.labour.gov.za/DocumentCenter/Regulations%20and%20Notices/Regulations/Occupational%20Health%20and%20Safety/eir2009.pdf