Topic hub
OHS ratios and statutory appointments: who you need, and how many
How many health and safety representatives, first aiders and committee members a South African workplace actually requires, what the Act says as opposed to what the market repeats, and how hybrid working changes the count.
The ratios, and the ones the market gets wrong
Two of the most quoted ratios in South African occupational health and safety do not match the gazetted wording. It is worth being precise, because a shortfall is assessed against the Act and not against practice.
The OHS Act guide: headcount thresholds at a glance
The full threshold table: first aid box above 5 employees, certificated first aiders above 10, representatives above 20, and a committee once two or more representatives are designated.
Counting the crowd: how many first aiders, reps and fire wardens does a hybrid workforce require
What happens to a headcount based ratio when the headcount is not in the building, and where the counting basis actually comes from.
Running OHS compliance by hand or by system: an honest comparison
Why ratios drift silently. Nobody recalculates the requirement when the headcount crosses a threshold, so the register stays correct for the wrong year.
What each appointment actually is
There is no single list of OHS appointments in one place. Section 16 creates a duty and a power to assign it, and individual regulations create their own appointments with unrelated triggers.
Statutory appointments, representatives, first aid and committees
The five inspection areas with the exact provision, the trigger, whether writing is required, and the record each one creates.
Why South African SMEs fail OHS audits
The recurring gaps, which are almost always evidential rather than substantive.
Recent audit and inspection findings
What is actually being written up, which is a better guide to risk than the regulations alone.
Keeping the appointment valid
An appointment is only worth what the certificate behind it is worth, and the Act says less about validity periods than most templates imply.
Training landscape and gaps, local and international
Where accredited training actually sits, which matters because a first aid certificate must come from an organisation approved by the chief inspector.
How long is an appointment valid for?
The Act sets no general validity period. Commonly quoted two and three year terms are management practice or an agreed term, not a figure from the Act.
The correction worth reading twice: the ratio of one health and safety representative for every 20 employees is repeated widely and is not what the Act says. Section 17(5) sets one per 100 or part thereof in shops and offices and one per 50 or part thereof in all other workplaces. The number 20 is the section 17(1) threshold at which the duty to designate representatives begins at all. Running a richer ratio is legitimate, it is just an agreed ratio rather than the statutory minimum.
Where this sits in the service
The GRC Shop OHS app computes the required number per site from the sourced statutory rules and the site headcount, checks it against the designations you actually hold, and raises the shortfall as a tracked item rather than leaving it for an inspector to find.
Positions stated as at August 2026. General information about published law, not legal advice. GRC Shop is not a law firm.