The aim of the Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHS Act) is to ensure all employers (Means, any person who employs or provides work for any person and remunerates that person or expressly or tacitly undertakes to remunerate him, but excludes a labour broker as defined in section 1(1) of the Labour Relations act, 1956 (Act no. 28 of 1956)) in turn ensure as far as is reasonably practicable*, the safety and health of employees (Means, any person who is employed by or works for an employer and who receives or is entitled to receive any remuneration or who works under the direction or supervision of an employer or any other person) at their workplace (Means any premises or place where a person performs work in the course of his employment) and in addition thereof the user (In relation to plant or machinery, means the person who uses plant or machinery for his own benefit or who has the right of control over the use of plant or machinery, but does not include a lessor of, or any person employed in connection with, that plant or machinery), having regard for the proper use (Means used with reasonable care and with due regard to any information, instruction or advice supplied by the designer, manufacturer, importer, seller or supplier)

of plant and machinery (Means any article or combination of articles assembled, arranged or connected and which is used or intended to be used for converting any form of energy to perform work, or which is used or intended to be used, whether incidental thereto or not, for developing, receiving storing, containing, confining, transforming transmitting, transferring or controlling any form of energy). But, equally so, it provides for the protection of people other than employee from hazards arising out of or in connection with the activities from people at a workplace or premises (Includes any building, vehicle, vessel, train or aircraft.).

* Reasonably Practicable: Means ‘‘practicable’’ having regard to:  The severity and scope of the hazard and risk concerned; The state of knowledge reasonably available concerning the hazard and risk and of any means of removing or mitigating that hazard or risk; The availability and suitability of means to remove or mitigate that hazard or risk; The cost of removing or mitigating that hazard or risk in relation to the benefits deriving there from

Legislation requires the employer to do everything ‘‘reasonably practicable’’ to protect employees AND non-employees on his premises from harm

 

Occupational Health + Safety In South Africa - Everything You Need To Know