Topic hub
South African OHS regulatory change, 2025 to 2026
Three occupational health and safety regulation sets were amended, one long standing set is repealed on 6 September 2026, and the compensation framework changed materially. What moved, when, and what it means for a compliance file.
The 6 September 2026 deadline
The Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987 and the Noise Induced Hearing Loss Regulations, 2003 both fall away on the same date, replaced by the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 and the Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024.
The 06 September 2026 deadline: two OHS regulations disappear
Which instruments go, what replaces them, and every document in your file that cites the old ones and now needs rewriting.
The South African OHS compliance calendar: every date that matters
The recurring and once-off dates across the OHS Act, COIDA and the regulations, laid out as a working calendar.
The amendment table on the OHS app page
A compact table of what changed on each date from March 2025 through to the September 2026 repeal, with the gazette references.
COIDA changed materially in 2026
The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act 10 of 2022 came into operation in stages from 23 January 2026, and it changed employer duties as well as employee rights.
COIDA quiet overhaul: a three year claims window, a rehabilitation duty, and PTSD now compensable
The prescription period moving from 12 months to three years, post traumatic stress disorder recognised, and employer provided transport brought into the course of employment.
The new COIDA duty employers have not noticed: rehabilitation and a planned return to work
The statutory rehabilitation, reintegration and return to work framework, and what it asks of an employer in practice.
The 30 June COIDA deadline: what the Return of Earnings means for your Letter of Good Standing
Why the return of earnings is the item that quietly gates your ability to trade with anyone who asks for a letter of good standing.
Standards and the direction of travel
Not every change is a gazette. Some of it is standards work that lands later.
What ISO 45001:2027 actually changes for a South African employer
Where the revision has actually got to, what is likely to change, and what is worth preparing for now rather than later.
Beyond fire and falls: why psychosocial risk is the strategic OHS question of 2026
The hazard class that the specific regulations do not yet name, and why section 8 still reaches it.
The last 24 months in South African OHS and ISO 45001: a look back
The run of changes that got us here, which is useful context for judging what is likely next.
Why this hub exists: a compliance file is a snapshot of the law on the day it was written. Three of the instruments most South African OHS files cite were either amended or repealed inside eighteen months. Any document citing the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, the Noise Induced Hearing Loss Regulations or the pre-amendment General Safety Regulations has a hard expiry date.
Where this sits in the service
This is the failure mode the GRC Shop platform is built around. Statutory rules are held as sourced data with the gazette reference attached, rather than scattered through application code, so an amendment is applied to the rule set rather than rediscovered by a client during an inspection.
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Positions stated as at August 2026. General information about published law, not legal advice. GRC Shop is not a law firm.