South Africa: Occupational Health and Safety Act, 85 of 1993 ("OHASA") – Public Comments on the Draft Construction Regulations 2024

On Wednesday, 12 March 2025, the Minister of Employment and Labour issued notice GN 5983 in Government Gazette No. 52267, attaching the Draft Construction Regulations, 2024 ("the Draft Construction Regulations").

The notice invites interested persons to submit comments in writing, in the prescribed form (annexure A to the notice), within 90 days from the date of publication of the notice (i.e. by 10 June 2025).
The Draft Construction Regulations will repeal the Construction Regulations published under Notice No. 10113 in Government Gazette 37305 of 07 February 2014 (“the Construction Regulations”).

The Draft Construction Regulations provides for amendments to the Construction Regulations. We highlight below some of these amendments:

Amendment to the definitions of, amongst others, "agent", "client", and "contractor".
With reference to the application for a construction work permit, in terms of the Construction Regulations (regulation 3), such application has to be made 30 days before the work is carried out if the intended construction work will exceed 180 days, involve more than 1800 person days of construction work, or the works contract is of a value equal to or exceeding thirteen million rand or Construction Industry Development Board ("CIDB") grading level 6. The Draft Construction Regulations require that such application be made 30 days before the work is carried out if the intended construction work will exceed 365 days, the works contract is of a value exceeding CIDB grading level 7, or will exceed 2 storeys above ground level.
With reference to the notification of construction work (regulation 4), the Draft Construction Regulations stipulates that such notification must be done by a contractor at least 7 days before construction work is to be carried out and that a client, intending to carry out any construction work (other than the work outlined in regulation 3(1) and is registered on the register of projects in terms of Construction Industry Development Board Act) must notify the provincial director in writing at least 7 days before commencing such work. The Draft Construction Regulations do not stipulate the specific type of construction work to be carried out, requiring such a notification, as was provided for in the Construction Regulations.
In terms of the duties of the client (regulation 5), the Construction Regulations require a client to, amongst others, prepare a baseline risk assessment for intended construction work. The Draft Construction Regulations require a client to, amongst others, prepare a documented design risk assessment for an intended construction work project.
In terms of the management and supervision of construction work (regulation 8), the Draft Construction Regulations make provision for the following new proposed insertions:
- a principal contractor may, upon having considered the size of the project in writing, appoint one or more Construction Health and Safety Managers for different sections thereof to ensure occupational health and safety compliance;
- One mandatory appointment of a full-time or part-time construction health and safety officer; and
- A construction manager must, in writing, appoint construction supervisors responsible for construction activities on the construction sites.
The Draft Construction Regulations remove the requirement that a contractor must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that ergonomic-related hazards are analysed, evaluated, and addressed in a risk assessment.
The Draft Construction Regulations provides that a contractor must review the relevant risk assessment where changes are effected to the design and/or construction that result in a change to the risk profile; when an incident has occurred, as contemplated in section 9(1)(d) and (e), or not exceeding 12 months. The 12 month time period is a new proposed insertion.

Interested and affected parties may make representations and comments for the attention of H Ganesen, the Director-General of the Department of Employment and Labour, by:

email: hilton.ganesen@labour.gov.za or derick.claase@labour.gov.za
hand-deliver: Laboria House, 215 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria, CBD
post: Private Bag X117, Pretoria 0001

Click here to view a copy of the notice and the Draft Construction Regulations.

Authored by:

Pieter Colyn
Executive | Head | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
pcolyn@ENSafrica.com

Celeste Coles
Executive | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
ccoles@ENSafrica.com

Elzaan Botha
Associate | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
ccoles@ENSafrica.com

For more information, please contact:

Willem le Roux
Executive Consultant | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
wleroux@ENSafrica.com

Warren Hendricks
Executive | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
whendricks@ENSafrica.com

Tyla Foster
Executive | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
tfoster@ENSafrica.com

Gerhardt Ehlers
Executive | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
gehlers@ENSafrica.com

Juanita Broom
Executive | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
jbroom@ENSafrica.com

Darryn Jacobus
Senior Associate | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
djacobus@ENSafrica.com

Bianca Nolan
Senior Associate | Mine and Occupational Health and Safety
bnolan@ENSafrica.com