New Health and Safety Management System designed to optimally manage OHS - Department of Employment and Labour Acting Chief Inspector, Maphaha
One of the envisioned changes in the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) bill is the introduction of the new health and safety management system, so said Department of Employment and Labour Acting Chief Inspector, Phumudzo Maphaha.
According to Maphaha the new health and safety management system – means a coordinated, comprehensive and interrogated or interacting elements to Occupational Health and Safety policy and objectives in order to optimally manage OHS.
“The expectation is that in the new health and safety management system, we will be expecting of the Occupational Health and Safety Practitioners in South Africa to comply with the five pillars,” he said.
The five pillars in the advancement of OHS in the workplaces that practitioners will need to comply with are:
1. Policy – how it is developed and commitment to the policy;
2. Organising – responsibility, accountability, competency, training, OHS documentation and communicating;
3. Planning and implementation - of OHS objectives and hazard prevention;
4. Evaluation – performance monitoring and measuring, investigation, audit and management review;
5. Action for improvement – preventative and corrective action, and continual improvement.
Maphaha said the new health and safety system is defined clearly in the OHS bill. He said OHS practitioners need to comply with the new system and that it will apply to all regulations.
The OHS legislation is still under review with legislatures and the public comments to the Bill closed last year.
Maphaha was speaking during a Department of Employment and Labour and South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (SAIOSH) joint Webinar on the Asbestos Abatement Regulations 2020.
The Webinar provided stakeholders with information on the interpretation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and practical aspects of risk assessments.
Source: Government of South Africa