Welcome to the SafetyCloud Blog

There is a continuous demand for identifying new and creative ways to mitigate hazards in the workplace. In face, workplace health and safety risks not only have a tremendous impact on the livelihood and wellbeing of emplyees accross all industries, but they can be exceptionally costly to companies that need to address on-the-job injuries. A significant number of employees suffer from a slip, trip or fall injury every year, sometimes costing employers hundreds of thousands of rands for each incident. 

The efforts you make in lowering your company’s carbon emissions don’t rest entirely with you – how your suppliers conduct their business activities will also have an impact on your overall carbon footprint. An effective way to ensure they are responsible suppliers is to use the following checklist when you begin working with them. Remember, a supplier that appreciates its obligations to the environment will carry ethical corporate responsibility across its entire operations.

In the final part of our three-part blog series, we unpack the general prohibitions under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. By breaking these down into simple-to-understand portions, we hope we can help you and your company better understand your legal obligations.

An employee’s safety obligations under the OHS Act

In the second of our three-part blog series demystifying the OHS Act, we are looking at what an employee’s legal obligations under this legislation are. Let’s dive in.

Part One - The Employer's Responsibilities

Fire safety is an important factor to consider on a day-to-day basis and especially in the workplace. A fire can be started in most incidents and can have a detrimental impact if not dealt with correctly. We have decided to breakdown the following components to consider when looking into fire safety:

In many of our interactions, we meet health and safety professionals determined to follow legislation – the only problem is they don’t always understand what it is they’re required to do.

We’re here to help. In the next three blogs, we’re going to break down the following sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act):

• Employer responsibilities
• Employee responsibilities
• General prohibitions

Safety while working at heights is such an essential part of of your occupational health and safety practices that it usually has its own designated group of skilled professionals monitoring processes and procedures. Here at NOSA, we certainly do.

With this in mind it’s a good idea to know exactly what equipment you’ll need to effectively manage and mitigate your working at heights risk, in conjunction with the fall protection plan you already have in place. This blog post sets out to do just that.

Your workplace needs to provide certain basic conditions to comply with fundamental health and safety in the workplace. Take a look at the image below to see if your workplace is up to scratch.

Need a quick reference guide to maintain your office’s health and safety compliance? Use the following checklist to stay on top of your legal obligations.

We all do it – you need to reach something on the top shelf in your cupboard, the ladder’s outside in the garage, so you grab the nearest chair and climb on. Mostly, we come down from the chair without a problem. But sometimes, we slip and fall, possibly injuring ourselves quite badly.

The same behaviour sometimes carries through to the workplace, to varying degrees. Here’s a challenge for you. Below are five examples of clear safety violations in the workplace. Take a look at each picture, and in the form that follows, let us know how each worker is breaking health and safety rules. You can include advice and tips on how the employees should have acted.

Spread the safety word

Once you have completed the form, visit our Facebook page and post safety violations you’ve noticed in your own day-to-day duties that need fixing. Hashtag it #SafetyFirst, and include a message on what should have been done in the situation. Tag us @NOSAtweets if you are using your personal account on Facebook or Twitter.