The OHS Inspection Register: what a Department of Employment and Labour inspector can ask you to produce
Version 1.4Position as at 3 September 202642 items
Every item a Department of Employment and Labour inspector can ask a South African employer to produce, each one against the provision it comes from.
Two different lists. This register is the full set of 42 things an inspector can ask you to produce. Our free OHS checklist (PDF) is a shorter 33-item self-check for employers.
This is a register, not an article. It carries a version number and a position date, it records what changed and when, and its address does not move. If a provision is amended or repealed the item is updated and the change is logged, rather than quietly rewritten.
The general duty and the risk assessmentStatutory appointmentsRepresentatives and committeesFirst aid, safety equipment and the workplace environmentIncident reporting, recording and investigationErgonomicsWhat non-compliance costsChange log
The general duty and the risk assessment
| # | Item | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Establish and maintain a safe working environment | OHS Act s8(1) read with s1 |
| 2 | Carry out and keep a workplace risk assessment | OHS Act s8(2)(d) |
| 3 | Apply the hierarchy of control before issuing PPE | OHS Act s8(2)(b) |
| 4 | Do not start work until the precautions are in place | OHS Act s8(2)(f) |
| 5 | Put section 37(2) agreements in place with contractors | OHS Act s37(1) and s37(2) |
| 6 | Record the chief executive officer duty | OHS Act s16(1) and s16(3) |
1. Establish and maintain a safe working environment
Provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to health. Reasonably practicable is a defined term weighing severity, the state of knowledge, the availability of the means and the cost against the benefit. It is not as far as is convenient.
OHS Act s8(1) read with s1
2. Carry out and keep a workplace risk assessment
Establish what hazards attach to the work, the plant, the machinery, the articles and the substances, and what precautionary measures are needed. This is the statutory basis for the risk assessment and it drives almost every other control you rely on.
OHS Act s8(2)(d)
3. Apply the hierarchy of control before issuing PPE
Take steps to eliminate or mitigate the hazard before resorting to personal protective equipment. PPE sits last in the statutory order, so a file that starts with PPE has skipped the part the Act asks about first.
OHS Act s8(2)(b)
4. Do not start work until the precautions are in place
Work and the operation of plant or machinery may not be permitted until the precautionary measures under 8(2)(b) and 8(2)(d) have been taken.
OHS Act s8(2)(f)
5. Put section 37(2) agreements in place with contractors
An employer and a mandatary may agree in writing on the arrangements and procedures between them to ensure compliance. Without it, the employer is presumed liable for the mandatary's acts and omissions and must prove all three limbs of the section 37(1) defence.
OHS Act s37(1) and s37(2)
6. Record the chief executive officer duty
Section 16(1) places on the chief executive officer the duty to ensure the employer's duties are properly discharged. It is not an appointment, it attaches automatically, and assigning it away does not relieve the employer of liability.
OHS Act s16(1) and s16(3)
Statutory appointments
| # | Item | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Assign section 16(1) duties to named people | OHS Act s16(2) |
| 8 | Designate a supervisor of machinery in writing | General Machinery Regulation 2(1) |
| 9 | Match the appointee's competency to installed power | General Machinery Regulation 2(4) and 2(5) |
| 10 | Send the required appointments to the divisional inspector | General Machinery Regulation 2(9) |
| 11 | Make each letter carry the eight things that matter | OHS Act s16(2) and s17(1), GMR 2(1), GAR 9(2) |
| 12 | Review appointments rather than assume a renewal date | OHS Act s17(1), no general statutory expiry |
7. Assign section 16(1) duties to named people
The chief executive officer may assign any section 16(1) duty to a person under his or her control, who then acts subject to the officer's control and directions. Section 16(2) does not use the words in writing, but a written assignment is how you prove scope, acceptance and the reasonable steps required for the section 37(1)(c) defence.
OHS Act s16(2)
8. Designate a supervisor of machinery in writing
An employer or user of machinery must designate in writing a competent person in a full time capacity for every premises on or in which machinery is used. There is no headcount trigger, only a machinery trigger. The appointee must be a competent person under regulation 2(3), and regulation 2(10) exempts a list that includes lifts, escalators and electrical installations in a shop or office, machinery used in building work, vehicles and earth moving plant, and refrigeration or air conditioning plant inspected and maintained by a duly qualified person.
General Machinery Regulation 2(1)
9. Match the appointee's competency to installed power
Competency escalates with installed power. Where the sum exceeds 1 200 kW but is less than 3 000 kW the person must fall into paragraphs (b), (c) or (d) of the competent person definition, and at 3 000 kW or more into paragraphs (c) or (d). Only premises where machinery is used solely for the distribution of electricity are graded in kVA: 3 000 kVA or less needs a paragraph (a) person who is also a registered installation electrician, above 3 000 kVA but less than 10 000 kVA needs (b), (c) or (d), and 10 000 kVA or more needs (c) or (d). Generated power is graded in kW under regulation 2(4), not in kVA.
General Machinery Regulation 2(4) and 2(5)
10. Send the required appointments to the divisional inspector
Where the appointee falls under regulation 2(4)(a), 2(5)(b) or 2(5)(c), a copy of the letter of appointment must forthwith be forwarded to the divisional inspector. This step is missed more often than the appointment itself.
General Machinery Regulation 2(9)
11. Make each letter carry the eight things that matter
Name and identity number, the exact provision under which the appointment is made, the workplace or section covered, the duties assigned, the resources and authority given, the period, the date, and signature by both the appointing person and the appointee accepting.
OHS Act s16(2) and s17(1), GMR 2(1), GAR 9(2)
12. Review appointments rather than assume a renewal date
The Act sets no general expiry on an appointment. Commonly quoted two year or three year renewal cycles are management practice or an agreed term, not a figure from the Act. An appointment lapses in substance when the appointee leaves the role or the risk profile changes.
OHS Act s17(1), no general statutory expiry
Representatives and committees
| # | Item | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Designate representatives above 20 employees | OHS Act s17(1) and s17(2), GAR 6 and GAR 7 |
| 14 | Apply the correct statutory ratio | OHS Act s17(5) |
| 15 | Count employees per workplace, not per company | OHS Act s17(1), s17(5) proviso and s19(1) |
| 16 | Let representatives perform their statutory functions | OHS Act s18(1) |
| 17 | Establish a committee once two representatives exist | OHS Act s19(1) |
| 18 | Keep employer nominees from outnumbering representatives | OHS Act s19(2)(c) and s19(3) |
| 19 | Meet at least once every three months and keep the record | OHS Act s19(4) and s20(2), GAR 5 |
13. Designate representatives above 20 employees
Where more than 20 employees are employed at a workplace, the employer must designate health and safety representatives in writing for a specified period, within four months, after consulting in good faith on the nomination or election process under section 17(2). General Administrative Regulation 6 goes further than consultation: the parties must consult or bargain in good faith and conclude an agreement covering nomination or election, terms of office, removal, vacancies, how functions are performed and the facilities and training due, and regulation 7 makes a valid designation conditional on that agreement. A failure to agree goes to the CCMA or the bargaining council.
OHS Act s17(1) and s17(2), GAR 6 and GAR 7
14. Apply the correct statutory ratio
At least one representative for every 100 employees or part thereof in a shop or office, and at least one for every 50 employees or part thereof in all other workplaces. The Act says at least, so it is a floor and not a fixed ratio. Employees working away from where they ordinarily report for duty count at the workplace where they report. The widely repeated one per 20 is not the statutory ratio. Twenty is the threshold at which the duty starts, not the ratio.
OHS Act s17(5)
15. Count employees per workplace, not per company
The thresholds attach to a workplace. A multi site employer assesses each site separately, so a business of 60 people across four small sites may trigger nothing while a single site of 21 does. The proviso to section 17(5) settles the edge case: employees working somewhere other than where they ordinarily report for duty count at the workplace where they report. Note also that mines, mining areas and works under the Minerals Act, and certain vessels, fall outside this Act entirely.
OHS Act s17(1), s17(5) proviso and s19(1)
16. Let representatives perform their statutory functions
Representatives may review the effectiveness of measures, identify hazards, examine incident causes with the employer, investigate employee complaints, make representations, inspect the workplace, participate in inspector consultations and attend committee meetings. Section 18(1) says a representative may perform these functions, so they are powers rather than duties. The inspection power carries conditions: intervals agreed with the employer, reasonable prior notice, and the employer may be present.
OHS Act s18(1)
17. Establish a committee once two representatives exist
Where two or more representatives have been designated at a workplace, the employer must establish one or more health and safety committees, and must consult that committee at every meeting held under section 19(4) with a view to initiating, developing, promoting, maintaining and reviewing the measures that keep employees safe. That consultation duty is in the same subsection and is the half most often missed.
OHS Act s19(1)
18. Keep employer nominees from outnumbering representatives
An employer may nominate members, but the number nominated may not exceed the number of health and safety representatives on that committee. Employer nominees must themselves be designated in writing, for a period the employer determines.
OHS Act s19(2)(c) and s19(3)
19. Meet at least once every three months and keep the record
A committee must meet as often as necessary and at least once every three months. That is a maximum interval between meetings, not a calendar quarter. It must keep a record of every recommendation to the employer and every report to an inspector, and those records must be kept for at least three years. The three years comes from General Administrative Regulation 5(b) and falls on the employer, not from section 20(2), which puts the record keeping duty on the committee itself. Regulation 5(a) adds a second employer duty that is easy to miss: make a suitable meeting place available to the committee.
OHS Act s19(4) and s20(2), GAR 5
First aid, safety equipment and the workplace environment
| # | Item | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | Provide a first aid box above 5 employees | General Safety Regulation 3(2) and 3(3) |
| 21 | Provide certificated first aiders above 10 employees | General Safety Regulation 3(4) |
| 22 | Check that your training provider is currently approved | GSR 3(4) as amended by GN 6907, GG 53783 |
| 23 | Put up the regulation 3(6) notice | General Safety Regulation 3(6) |
| 24 | Meet the housekeeping, flooding and fire egress rules | GSR 13H, 13I and 13J, inserted 6 March 2025 |
| 25 | Rewrite anything citing the 1987 Environmental Regulations | Physical Agents Regulations reg 21, GN 5952, GG 52226 |
20. Provide a first aid box above 5 employees
Where more than 5 employees are employed at a workplace, provide a first aid box or boxes at or near the workplace, accessible to employees, holding at least the Annexure minimum contents. The Annexure is a floor, not a ceiling.
General Safety Regulation 3(2) and 3(3)
21. Provide certificated first aiders above 10 employees
Where more than 10 employees are employed, at least one person holding a valid certificate of competency must be readily available during normal working hours for every group of up to 50 employees, or every group of up to 100 in a shop or office. Cover has to hold across shifts.
General Safety Regulation 3(4)
22. Check that your training provider is currently approved
The certificate must be issued by an organisation approved by the chief inspector. Government Notice 6907 in Gazette 53783 of 5 December 2025 amended regulation 3(4). On the published accounts of that notice it collapsed the previously named bodies, being the SA Red Cross Society, the St John's Ambulance and the SA First Aid League, into the single category of an organisation approved by the chief inspector, which would also remove the option of a certificate issued by an approved individual. We have not been able to read the gazette text itself, so treat that detail as reported rather than verified, and confirm your provider's current approval directly. The common three year certificate currency comes from the qualification framework, not from regulation 3.
GSR 3(4) as amended by GN 6907, GG 53783
23. Put up the regulation 3(6) notice
A prominent notice in a conspicuous place must show where the first aid box is kept and name the person responsible for it.
General Safety Regulation 3(6)
24. Meet the housekeeping, flooding and fire egress rules
Regulation 13H sets a minimum of 2,25 square metres of effective open floor area for every employee working indoors, expressly excluding workplaces where building work is performed, plus unobstructed work spaces and protected floor openings. Regulation 13I covers flooding notice. Regulation 13J requires emergency doors opening outwards, at least two means of egress as far apart as practicable, and maintained firefighting equipment.
GSR 13H, 13I and 13J, inserted 6 March 2025
25. Rewrite anything citing the 1987 Environmental Regulations
This register uses 5 September 2026. Regulation 21 provides that the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987 will be repealed eighteen months after the promulgation of the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024, and it states no calendar date. The Physical Agents Regulations were promulgated on 6 March 2025, so the eighteen months run out in the first week of September 2026. Two readings are in circulation and they differ by one day. The Department of Employment and Labour media advisory of 10 April 2025 says the new regulations come into effect from 5 September 2026. ENSafrica, Webber Wentzel and the SAIOSH implementation guide each count eighteen months from 6 March 2025 and give 6 September 2026. We take the Department's date, because it is the regulator's own and it is the earlier of the two, and being off the old regulations a day early costs nothing while being a day late does not. In practice the choice barely matters: 5 September 2026 is a Saturday and 6 September is a Sunday, so the last working day on which a file may still rely on the 1987 regulations is Friday 4 September 2026. Anything citing them for lighting, ventilation, thermal conditions, housekeeping, flooding or fire must by then be rewritten against the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 and General Safety Regulations 13H, 13I and 13J. One matter stays open: Government Notice 7149 in Gazette 54177 of 20 February 2026 is said to amend the Physical Agents Regulations, and we have searched for its text without finding it in any public source. We record it as unread rather than as having no effect.
Physical Agents Regulations reg 21, GN 5952, GG 52226
26. Know what makes an incident reportable
Report where a person dies, becomes unconscious, loses a limb or part of a limb, is likely to die or suffer a permanent physical defect, or is likely to be unable to work for at least 14 days. A major incident is reportable. So is a dangerous substance spill, an uncontrolled release of a substance under pressure, machinery fracturing or failing so that objects fly, fall or move uncontrolled, or machinery running out of control, but each of those only where the health or safety of a person was endangered.
OHS Act s24(1)
27. Report on WCL 1 or WCL 2 within seven days
The employer or user of machinery must report to the provincial director on WCL 1 or WCL 2 within seven days of an incident falling under section 24(1)(a). The seven day form duty attaches to those incidents, not to every incident under section 24.
General Administrative Regulation 8(1)(a)
28. Notify serious incidents forthwith as well
Death, unconsciousness, loss of a limb or part of a limb, or an injury likely to result in a permanent physical defect or an injury likely to result in death, must also be reported forthwith by telephone, facsimile or similar means. That duty sits in regulation 8(1)(b). Regulation 8(2) is a separate duty: if an injured person dies after the incident has already been notified, the provincial director must be notified forthwith of the death.
General Administrative Regulation 8(1)(b) and 8(2)
29. Do not disturb the scene without an inspector's consent
The site of a serious incident may not be disturbed and articles or substances involved may not be removed, except so far as necessary to prevent a further incident, remove the injured or dead, or rescue persons from danger.
OHS Act s24(2)
30. Record every incident needing more than first aid
Record on Annexure 1 every section 24 reportable incident and every incident where a person required medical treatment other than first aid. Recording is a wider duty than reporting, and it is the one most often missed.
General Administrative Regulation 9(1)
31. Investigate within seven days and enter the findings
Every recorded incident must be investigated within seven days from the date of the incident and finalised as soon as is reasonably practicable, or within the contracted period in the case of contracted workers. The seven days is not a completion deadline. The investigation is carried out by the employer, a person appointed by the employer, a health and safety representative or a committee member. Findings go into Annexure 1 immediately after completion.
General Administrative Regulation 9(2) and 9(3)
32. Take the records to the committee and keep them three years
The health and safety committee must consider the records at its next meeting and the employer must implement and follow up the necessary actions. Annexure 1 records are kept at the workplace, open to an inspector, for at least three years.
GAR 9(4) and GAR 9(1)
33. Report to the Compensation Fund separately
OHS Act reporting goes to the provincial director for enforcement. COIDA reporting goes to the Commissioner or your licensed insurer for compensation. Reporting to one does not discharge the duty to the other. Section 44 of COIDA, substituted with effect from 23 January 2026, extends from 12 months to three years the period within which an accident must be brought to the attention of the Commissioner, failing which the right to benefits lapses. Notice must now go to the Commissioner specifically, and no longer to the employer or a mutual association. The separate period in section 43 for lodging a claim was not amended by that section.
COIDA, as amended by Act 10 of 2022
34. Keep the physical agent records for forty years
Regulation 18(1)(a) sets out what must be kept: training records, the exposure risk assessment and its action plan, exposure monitoring and its action plan, illumination measurement and monitoring and its action plan, medical screening and medical surveillance reports, and the maintenance of control measures. Regulation 18(1)(b) fixes the retention period at forty years. The records under regulations 3, 6, 7, 11 and 17 must be made available to the health and safety representative, the health and safety committee or an inspector on request. If the business ceases to operate, regulation 18(2) requires the Chief Director: Provincial Operations to be told where the records will be kept and how they may be accessed.
Physical Agents Regulations 18(1)(a), 18(1)(b), 18(1)(c)(i) and 18(2)
35. Produce a documented physical agent risk assessment
Regulation 6(1) requires a documented assessment of exposure to a physical agent, and regulation 6(4) a documented action plan arising from it. The field is wider than the phrase suggests. The regulations reach cold stress, heat stress, illumination, indoor air quality, vibration and occupational non-ionising radiation, which puts the lighting in a warehouse aisle, the heat in a kitchen or roof space, the cold in a chiller, the vibration in a hand tool or a forklift seat and the air in an office with a struggling ventilation system all inside the same instrument. Few workplaces fall outside all of them.
Physical Agents Regulations 6(1) and 6(4), read with regulations 9 to 14
36. Produce the exposure and illumination monitoring, with its action plan
Where the risk assessment shows it is required, regulation 7(1) requires an exposure monitoring programme and regulation 7(5) a documented action plan on its recommendations. Regulations 11(7) and 11(9) require the same for illumination measurement and monitoring. These are the records that take the place of the fixed lighting and ventilation standards the 1987 regulations used to set, and the difference matters: the old instrument told you the number to meet, the new one asks you to prove you measured, decided and acted.
Physical Agents Regulations 7(1), 7(5), 11(7) and 11(9)
37. Medical screening and surveillance, and who is allowed to see it
Regulation 8 requires a documented system of medical screening and medical surveillance where the risk assessment identifies the need, carried out under an Occupational Medicine Practitioner, with the employee's written informed consent under regulation 8(12). The disclosure rule is not the same as for every other record in these regulations, and this is the part most often got wrong. Regulation 18(1)(c)(ii) allows medical records to be made available to any person only with the formal written consent of the employee, while the records under regulations 3, 6, 7, 11 and 17 go to the representative, the committee or an inspector on request. Health information is also special personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, so the consent is carrying two separate obligations at once.
Physical Agents Regulations 8(10), 8(12) and 18(1)(c)(ii)
Ergonomics
| # | Item | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | Have an ergonomic risk assessment performed by a competent person | Ergonomics Regulations reg 6 |
| 39 | Train employees and mandataries before they are placed | Ergonomics Regulations reg 3 |
| 40 | Control the risk, and keep the controls working | Ergonomics Regulations reg 7 and reg 9 |
| 41 | Place employees under medical surveillance where it is recommended | Ergonomics Regulations reg 8 |
| 42 | Keep the ergonomics records for the periods the regulation sets | Ergonomics Regulations reg 10 |
38. Have an ergonomic risk assessment performed by a competent person
An employer must have an ergonomic risk assessment performed by a competent person before work commences, and thereafter at intervals not exceeding two years. It must also be reviewed when the work, the equipment or the process changes. The two year interval is a maximum, not a cycle to be diarised and forgotten, and a change to the work resets it.
Ergonomics Regulations reg 6
39. Train employees and mandataries before they are placed
An employer must establish a training programme for all employees and mandataries exposed to ergonomic risk, covering the prescribed content, before the person is placed in the workplace. Refresher training follows at intervals recommended by the health and safety committee. Training after placement is late, and the regulation says before.
Ergonomics Regulations reg 3
40. Control the risk, and keep the controls working
An employer must ensure exposure to ergonomic risk is prevented or, where that is not practicable, adequately controlled, applying the hierarchy of control. Separately, every control provided must comply with the regulations, be fully and appropriately implemented, and be maintained in good working order. Providing a control and then letting it fall into disuse is its own contravention under regulation 9, distinct from failing to provide it at all.
Ergonomics Regulations reg 7 and reg 9
41. Place employees under medical surveillance where it is recommended
Where the ergonomic risk assessment or an occupational medicine practitioner recommends it, the employer must ensure the employee is placed under medical surveillance overseen by an occupational medicine practitioner. The trigger is the recommendation, so an assessment that recommends surveillance sitting in a file with no surveillance behind it is a visible gap.
Ergonomics Regulations reg 8
42. Keep the ergonomics records for the periods the regulation sets
An employer or self employed person must keep the records arising from regulations 3, 6, 7, 8(2) and 9, and make them available to health and safety representatives and to an inspector. The retention periods differ by record: forty years for risk assessments and medical surveillance, three years for records of controls, and for training records the duration of the person's employment. The forty year period is the same order as the Physical Agents retention in item 37, and for the same reason, being latency.
Ergonomics Regulations reg 10
What non-compliance costs
- Section 38(1): a fine not exceeding R50 000, or imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. This covers failure to comply with sections 8, 12 to 20, 24 and others, and failure to comply with an inspector's direction or notice.
- Section 38(2): where an act or omission caused injury in circumstances where the employer would have been guilty of culpable homicide had death resulted, a fine not exceeding R100 000, or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both.
- Section 38(3): in addition to any punishment, the court may order compliance with the breached provision within a period it determines.
- Individual regulations carry their own higher penalties. The Major Hazard Installation Regulations, 2022 provide for R500 000 to R5 000 000 or imprisonment up to 24 months. Do not rely on a single maximum fine figure without knowing which instrument it comes from.
- Each contravention is a separate offence and the Act expresses its maximum per offence on conviction, so several contraventions compound. Treat any total built that way as a modelled worst case rather than a legal statement, and note that an inspector issues notices and refers for prosecution rather than levying a fine. A single inspection that finds a missing risk assessment, no designated representatives, no committee and unrecorded incidents is four contraventions, not one.
Change log
The register records amendments rather than absorbing them silently. Every entry below is already reflected in the items above.
| Date | Change | Instrument | Items |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2026 | Version 1.4. Five items added for the duties the Ergonomics Regulations 2019 place on an employer, being the ergonomic risk assessment by a competent person at intervals not exceeding two years, the training programme required before a person is placed, risk control by the hierarchy together with the separate duty to maintain controls in working order, medical surveillance where the ergonomic risk assessment or an occupational medicine practitioner recommends it, and the regulation 10 record duties with their retention periods of forty years for risk assessments and medical surveillance, three years for records of controls, and the duration of employment for training records. The regulations commenced on publication and no transitional provision remains. The structured data version and modified date, which had been left at 1.0 and 22 August 2026, were corrected to match this release. | Ergonomics Regulations 2019, GN 1589, GG 42894 | 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 |
| 1 September 2026 | Version 1.3. Four items added for the record duties the Physical Agents Regulations create, being the forty year retention, the documented risk assessment, exposure and illumination monitoring, and medical screening and surveillance with its consent rule. Item 25 settled on a date: this register uses 5 September 2026, the Department own published date and the earlier of the two readings, with the 6 September reading recorded beside it. Both fall on a weekend, so the last working day under the 1987 regulations is Friday 4 September 2026. Government Notice 7149 in Gazette 54177 of 20 February 2026 was searched for and could not be found in any public source; it stays recorded as unread. | Physical Agents Regulations regs 6, 7, 8, 11, 17 and 18 | 25, 34, 35, 36, 37 |
| 27 August 2026 | Version 1.2 citation pass. No item changed in substance. Item 13 now cites section 17(2) for the good faith consultation and records that General Administrative Regulation 6 requires the parties to conclude an agreement, with regulation 7 making a valid designation conditional on it. Item 15 cites the section 17(5) proviso and section 19(1), and notes that mines and certain vessels fall outside the Act. Item 16 records that section 18(1) confers powers rather than duties, and the conditions on the inspection power. Item 18 pins to section 19(2)(c) and adds the section 19(3) writing requirement for employer nominees. Item 19 adds the regulation 5(a) meeting place duty. | Internal citation review | 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 |
| 27 August 2026 | Version 1.1 correction pass. Every item re-checked against primary sources. Item 17 had stated a duty to designate the workplaces each committee acts for, which does not appear in section 19; it is replaced with the real second limb of section 19(1), the duty to consult the committee at every meeting. Item 31 had implied a seven day completion deadline; regulation 9(2) requires the investigation within seven days and finalisation as soon as is reasonably practicable. Item 9 had applied the kVA grading to electricity generation; regulation 2(5) covers distribution only. Item 28 had cited regulation 8(2) for the telephone duty, which sits in 8(1)(b). Items 14, 19, 24, 26, 27 and 33 tightened to the statutory wording. | Internal review against primary sources | 9, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33 |
| 5 September 2026 | The Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987 are repealed eighteen months after promulgation on 6 March 2025, and regulation 21 states no calendar date. This register uses 5 September 2026, the date in the Department media advisory of 10 April 2025 and the earlier of the two readings. ENSafrica, Webber Wentzel and the SAIOSH implementation guide give 6 September 2026. Both fall on a weekend, so the last working day is Friday 4 September 2026. Not yet in effect at the position date of this register. | Physical Agents Regulations reg 21, GN 5952, GG 52226 | 24, 25, 34, 35, 36, 37 |
| 5 December 2025 | General Safety Regulation 3(4) amended. On published accounts of the notice the historically named approval bodies were removed from the wording, leaving only an organisation approved by the chief inspector. Reported rather than verified against the gazette text, so confirm a provider current approval directly. | GN 6907, GG 53783 | 21, 22 |
| 6 March 2025 | General Safety Regulations 13H, 13I and 13J inserted. Minimum 2,25 square metres of effective open floor area per employee indoors, flooding notice, emergency egress. | GSR 13H, 13I, 13J | 24 |
| 23 January 2026 | Section 44 of COIDA substituted. The period within which an accident must be brought to the attention of the Commissioner runs from 12 months to three years, failing which the right to benefits lapses. Notice must go to the Commissioner specifically. The separate period in section 43 for lodging a claim was not amended by that section. | COIDA as amended by Act 10 of 2022 | 33 |
Next scheduled review: early September 2026, when the 1987 Environmental Regulations lapse. Regulation 21 fixes that by counting eighteen months from promulgation rather than by naming a day, and the sources differ between 5 and 6 September, so the review is set for the week rather than the date. Version 2.0 will be issued then whether or not anything else has changed, so the register is never silently stale.
Three thresholds people get wrong
Recorded here because they are the most frequently misquoted, and because each is checkable against the section named.
Representatives start above 20, not at 20
Section 17(1) applies to an employer with more than 20 employees. At exactly 20, no duty arises.
Item 13, OHS Act s17(1)
There is no one per twenty ratio
Section 17(5) sets one representative for every 50 employees, or one for every 100 in a shop or office. The one per twenty figure that circulates widely does not appear in the Act at all. Twenty is the threshold at which the duty begins, not the ratio.
Item 14, OHS Act s17(5)
Headcount is counted per workplace
Section 17(1) attaches to the workplace, not the company. A business of 60 people across four sites of 15 may have no duty at any of them.
Item 15, OHS Act s17(1)
Walk your own file against the register. It takes about ten minutes, and the answer to each item is either a document that exists and is current, or one that does not.
Nothing here requires GRC Shop. The register is published free and in full, because a claim that carries its provision can be checked, and one that does not, cannot.
What we sell is the part that comes after. Compliance files go stale. Our system keeps yours current: the appointments, registers, certificates and evidence on this page stay live between inspections, rather than being rebuilt the week before one.
Which of these forty two apply to you?
Not all of them will. Almost every duty on this register switches on at a headcount, a site condition or an activity, and each threshold is set out above against the section it comes from.
Tell us your headcount, how many sites you run and roughly what your people do. We will send back the shortlist that applies to you, with the section number against each item, so you can check every one of them yourself. No charge, no obligation, one reply within two business days.
Not sure where you stand? We also run a once-off assessment that walks your own file against every item on this register and comes back to you item by item: what you have, what is missing, and what has quietly gone out of date. Ask us and we will explain how it works.
A figure of 73 percent gets quoted widely for non-compliance. The national number the Department actually reported is 35 percent. We published both, and where each one comes from.