Who prepares the health and safety plan and the health and safety file?
Under South Africa's Construction Regulations 2014, the client prepares a health and safety specification for the tender. The principal contractor and every contractor each give a health and safety plan based on it and keep a health and safety file on site. Audits run at least every 30 days, and the file goes to the client on completion.
Who holds which document
The client writes the specification and puts it in the tender. The principal contractor gives the client a plan based on it, and every contractor gives the principal contractor its own. Each keeps a file on site, audits run at least every 30 days with the report back within 7 days, and the consolidated file goes to the client on completion.
The specification, the plans and the risk assessments
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare a baseline risk assessment and a site specific health and safety specification for the intended work, and include the specification in the tender documents | none setr 5(1)(a), (b), (f)The client's duty, before tender, with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Give the client a site specific health and safety plan based on its specification, apply it from the start of the work, and review and update it as the work progresses | none setr 7(1)(a)No day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Before performing construction work, give the principal contractor a health and safety plan based on the relevant sections of the client's specification, and review and update it as the work progresses | none setr 7(2)(a)Before work, with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Before construction work starts, and while it continues, have risk assessments performed by a competent person appointed in writing, as part of the site health and safety plan | none setr 9(1)Before work, with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Review the risk assessment when a change to the design or construction changes the risk profile, or when an incident has occurred | none setr 9(7)It runs from any incident, not only a reportable one, so the notifiable incident event type would miss most of them and no trigger is set; no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
Prepare a baseline risk assessment and a site specific health and safety specification for the intended work, and include the specification in the tender documents
r 5(1)(a), (b), (f) · none set · an offence
- The client must also give the specification to the designer (r 5(1)(c)), ensure tenderers have priced health and safety (r 5(1)(g)), and ensure the principal contractor it appoints has the competencies and resources to work safely (r 5(1)(h)).
- A permit is granted only once the documents in r 5(1)(a) and (b) are submitted (r 3(5)(a)).
Give the client a site specific health and safety plan based on its specification, apply it from the start of the work, and review and update it as the work progresses
r 7(1)(a) · none set · an offence
- The principal contractor's duty.
- The client must discuss and negotiate the plan with the principal contractor and then finally approve it (r 5(1)(l)), and take reasonable steps to ensure it is implemented and maintained (r 5(1)(n)).
- A copy must be available on request to an employee, an inspector, a contractor, the client or its agent (r 7(1)(d)).
Before performing construction work, give the principal contractor a health and safety plan based on the relevant sections of the client's specification, and review and update it as the work progresses
r 7(2)(a) · none set · an offence
- Binds every contractor working under a principal contractor.
- The principal contractor must give tendering contractors the relevant sections of the specification (r 7(1)(c)(i)), and must discuss, negotiate and finally approve each contractor's plan (r 7(1)(c)(x)).
Before construction work starts, and while it continues, have risk assessments performed by a competent person appointed in writing, as part of the site health and safety plan
r 9(1) · none set · an offence
- The assessment must identify the hazards, analyse and evaluate them by a documented method, and carry a documented control plan with safe work procedures, a monitoring plan and a review plan (r 9(1)(a) to (e)).
- Employees must be trained on the hazards before work starts (r 9(3)), and copies must be on site (r 9(6)).
Review the risk assessment when a change to the design or construction changes the risk profile, or when an incident has occurred
r 9(7) · none set · an offence
- A contractor's duty.
The file and its handover
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Open and keep on site a health and safety file holding every document the Act and these Regulations require, available on request to an inspector, the client, the client's agent or a contractor | none setr 7(1)(b), (2)(b)A standing duty with no window. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Hand the client a consolidated health and safety file on completion of the construction work, including a record of the drawings, designs, materials used and similar information about the structure | none setr 7(1)(e)"Upon completion", with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
Open and keep on site a health and safety file holding every document the Act and these Regulations require, available on request to an inspector, the client, the client's agent or a contractor
r 7(1)(b), (2)(b) · none set · an offence
- The principal contractor (r 7(1)(b)) and each contractor (r 7(2)(b)) keep their own file.
- The principal contractor's file must also list every contractor on site accountable to it, the agreements between the parties and the type of work each does (r 7(1)(f)), and the client must ensure the principal contractor keeps and maintains it (r 5(1)(s)).
Hand the client a consolidated health and safety file on completion of the construction work, including a record of the drawings, designs, materials used and similar information about the structure
r 7(1)(e) · none set · an offence
- The principal contractor's duty, and a contractor's when it appoints another contractor (r 7(3)).
Audits
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Have health and safety audits and document verification of each contractor carried out at least once every 30 days | 30 daysr 7(1)(c)(vii) | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Give the principal contractor a copy of each health and safety audit report within 7 days after the audit | 7 daysr 5(1)(p) | an offenceLapsed compliance |
Have health and safety audits and document verification of each contractor carried out at least once every 30 days
r 7(1)(c)(vii) · 30 days · an offence
- The principal contractor's duty, at intervals it agrees with each contractor but at least once every 30 days: the window is that longest interval.
- The client must ensure the same audits happen on the same cadence (r 5(1)(o)) and give the principal contractor the report within 7 days.
Give the principal contractor a copy of each health and safety audit report within 7 days after the audit
r 5(1)(p) · 7 days · an offence
- The client's duty, for the audits r 5(1)(o) requires at least once every 30 days.
Appointments
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Appoint each contractor in writing, and only once reasonably satisfied it has the competencies and resources to do the construction work safely | none setr 7(1)(c)(iii), (v)Before appointment, with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Before work starts on site, make sure every contractor is registered and in good standing with the Compensation Fund or a licensed compensation insurer | none setr 7(1)(c)(iv)Before work starts, with no day count, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Appoint in writing one full-time competent construction manager for each site, and an alternate for when the manager is absent | none setr 8(1)A standing duty with no window. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| After consulting the client, appoint in writing a full-time or part-time construction health and safety officer registered with the statutory body the Chief Inspector approved, where the project's size or hazards call for one | none setr 8(5), (6)A standing duty with no window. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
Appoint each contractor in writing, and only once reasonably satisfied it has the competencies and resources to do the construction work safely
r 7(1)(c)(iii), (v) · none set · an offence
- The principal contractor's duty.
- The client carries the same duties for every principal contractor (r 5(1)(h), (k)), and a contractor who appoints another contractor must be reasonably satisfied in the same way (r 7(2)(c)) and takes on the principal contractor's duties in r 7(1)(b) to (g) (r 7(3)).
Before work starts on site, make sure every contractor is registered and in good standing with the Compensation Fund or a licensed compensation insurer
r 7(1)(c)(iv) · none set · an offence
- The principal contractor's duty, under the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993.
- The client must ensure the same of every principal contractor (r 5(1)(j)), and a permit is granted only on written proof of the principal contractor's registration and good standing (r 3(5)(b)(ii)).
Appoint in writing one full-time competent construction manager for each site, and an alternate for when the manager is absent
r 8(1) · none set · an offence
- A construction manager may manage only the site they are appointed to (r 8(4)).
- Assistant construction managers are appointed in writing according to the size of the project (r 8(2)), and an inspector may direct more (r 8(3)).
- The construction manager must appoint construction supervisors in writing (r 8(7)), and a supervisor may supervise only their own site unless enough competent employees are designated on every site (r 8(10)).
After consulting the client, appoint in writing a full-time or part-time construction health and safety officer registered with the statutory body the Chief Inspector approved, where the project's size or hazards call for one
r 8(5), (6) · none set · an offence
- Whether an officer is needed turns on the size of the project, the degree of danger and the accumulation of hazards, and an inspector's decision is decisive (r 8(5)).
- Government Notice R. 85 of 7 February 2014, published in the same gazette, approves the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions as that statutory body.
Before anyone works on site
| Duty | Window and section | If missed |
|---|---|---|
| Allow no employee or other person onto site until they have had health and safety induction training on the hazards on site at the time, and keep the induction records on site | none setr 7(5), (7)A standing duty with no window. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
| Make sure every employee holds a valid medical certificate of fitness for the construction work they do, issued by an occupational health practitioner in the form of Annexure 3 | none setr 7(8)The regulation sets no validity period for a certificate, so no window is recorded. | an offenceLapsed compliance |
Allow no employee or other person onto site until they have had health and safety induction training on the hazards on site at the time, and keep the induction records on site
r 7(5), (7) · none set · an offence
- Visitors must also be inducted and have the personal protective equipment they need (r 7(6)).
- The records must be available on request to an inspector, the client, its agent or the principal contractor; r 7(7) as gazetted refers to the induction in subregulation (6), the visitors' one, not (5).
Make sure every employee holds a valid medical certificate of fitness for the construction work they do, issued by an occupational health practitioner in the form of Annexure 3
r 7(8) · none set · an offence
- Every contractor's duty; r 7(1)(g) places the same duty on the principal contractor for its own employees.
Before the plan
Permit-scale work needs the construction work permit before it starts; after an incident, the risk assessment is reviewed and the incident duties apply.
What this page is, and is not
It is the section text this library holds for South Africa's Construction Industry Development Board Act, 2000 (Act 38 of 2000), Construction Industry Development Regulations, 2004, Construction Regulations, 2014, General Administrative Regulations, 2003 and Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act 85 of 1993), with the window and the consequence. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the Acts, the Regulations and the contract you signed.
Demiton does not yet track South African projects. These pages set out the duties; the product does not run these checks on a South African job today.
No library of law is complete, and Demiton never says this one is. An obligation the library does not hold, and you did not add, is not protected. You can add your own to any job.