GOVERNANCE
OHSA
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT
Residential estates should familiarise and
align themselves with the Occupational
Health and Safety Act, Act 85 of 1993, and
the regulations made thereunder.
What should be done?
Every residential estate must have in their
possession a health and safety file that
includes, but is not limited to, the following
The benefits of joining the movement minimum requirements:
By creating a culture of legal compliance • •
that identifies all hazards and risks
within an estate, HOAs promote clarity and
trust in those who have vested interests
in the residential estate. This furthermore
enables estate management to demonstrate
• •
the baseline risk assessment;
legal liabilities, penalties and fines. By doing
• •
estate, which many believe is fundamental
• •
to a successful residential estate.
place;
• •
as contemplated in the Act, are properly
discharged.
The act formally introduces the CEO,
in relation to a body corporate, as the
person who is responsible for the overall
management and control of the business
or herself from their responsibilities or
liability, assign the duties to any person
under their control, more commonly known
to us as the manager, and in most cases
this duty is bestowed on the general
manager.
preventing occupation prior to issuing of
an occupancy certificate. These are just
the definition of control. The duty of the
that was bestowed on them, by virtue of
their partial responsibility, and to ensure, as
far as reasonably practicable, that all sites
within the estate also comply with the Act.
“taking all necessary measures to ensure
that the requirements of this Act are
complied with by every person in his
employment or on premises under his
control”.
The Health, Safety and Environmental Law
Society conducted a survey in 2017, where
437 health and safety professionals voted
that it is contra bonos mores (against the
• • Various legal appointments; • • Proof of employee training on Health construction sites comply.
and Safety;
• • Proof of safe operating procedures;
• • Contractor management plan and
estate does not take steps to ensure that
It is not a daunting task to ensure that
an estate as a whole complies, and the
benefits of doing so far outweigh the effort.
mandatary agreements;
• • A waste management plan;
• • A documented emergency preparedness
and response plan.
What about construction sites within the
residential estate?
Section 8(2)(g) highlights the following duties
of the residential estate:
PAGE 32
ensuring that sites are barricaded, or even
good morals of society) if the residential
of such body corporate
The CEO may then, without absolving him
The certificate of good standing from
the compensation fund;
the CEO must ensure that the health and
safety duties of the residential estate,
Further proof of a comprehensive
Health and Safety plan must be in
Who must do it?
Section 16(1) of the Act declares that
A documented Health and Safety Policy
must be in place;
so, they inevitably protect the brand of the
enforcing good housekeeping practices,
estate is to exercise the power of control
factors, which were identified within
By ensuring that an estate complies with
such as stopping illegal building activities,
Documentation must exist to prove
completed pertaining to the high-risk
the estate and increases its value.
and restrict the affairs on a building site,
some of the powers that bind them to
or issue-based risk assessments were
processes, which strengthens the brand of
are equipped with the power to guide
attached to every task and activity;
that more comprehensive task-based
sound management structures, systems and
the law, HOAs minimise the risk of possible
The baseline risk assessment document
Residential estate management teams
Kevin Erasmus