The long-awaited revised Construction Regulations promulgated in terms of Section 43 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 were enacted on 7 February 2014 in the Government Gazette No. 37305 (the New Construction Regulations). A copy of the Government Gazette containing the New Construction Regulations can be accessed here.

A key objective of the New Construction Regulations is to formalise and strengthen the overinspection and responsibility between the parties involved in construction-related projects. This includes closer supervision by the client and a more involved approach by the Department of Labour (DOL), with severe penalties for non-compliance.

In this series our occupational health and safety team will provide insight into the important amendments contained in the New Construction Regulations and how these amendments are likely to affect your construction and maintenance contracts. These include considerations each business should take in relation to civil and criminal liability for non-compliance of the New Construction Regulations.

This edition focusses on New Construction Regulation 8 which addresses the management and supervision of construction work.

New Construction Regulation 8 specifically addresses the management and supervision of construction work. This includes the appointment of a number of persons by the principal contractor to assist with the management and supervision of construction work as follows:

• the full-time appointment of a competent person as a construction manager. The construction manager has the duty of managing all the construction work on a single site, including the duty of ensuring occupational health and safety compliance;
• an alternate construction manager in the event that the construction manager is absent;
• the appointment of assistant construction managers based on the size of the project;
• the full- or part-time appointment (based on consultations with the client and taking into account the size of the project) of a health and safety officer. The appointed health and safety officer must be registered with a statutory body approved by the chief inspector and must have the necessary competencies and resources to assist the contactor;
• the appointment of construction supervisors by the construction manager. The construction supervisors are to be responsible for construction activities, including the responsibility to ensure occupational health and safety compliance on the project; and
• the appointment of competent employees to assist the construction supervisors.

These new appointments will require contractors to review their current legal appointment structures and to make the necessary amendments to ensure that the appointments made are in line with the requirements of the new construction regulations. These appointments are in addition to a number of other task specific appointments and all contractors must ensure that their legal appointment structures comply with the regulatory obligations.

Click here to view Regulation 8.

To access our previous snapshot regarding the New Construction Regulations, click here.

This Snapshot was written by Kate Collier.