Risk Assessment in the South African Workplace: Legal Requirements & Best Practice

Risk Assessment: A Legal Imperative

Section 8 of the OHS Act requires every employer to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of employees. The General Safety Regulations further mandate that employers must identify hazards, assess risks, and implement control measures.

Yet many South African workplaces treat risk assessment as a paperwork exercise — a tick-box activity done once a year and filed away. This approach exposes organisations to:

• Criminal prosecution under the OHS Act
• Civil liability for negligence
• Increased insurance premiums and COID levies
• Prohibition notices from the Department of Labour

Legal Framework for Risk Assessment

OHS Act Requirements

• Section 8(2)(d) — Establish what hazards are attached to work and measures to mitigate them
• Section 8(2)(e) — Provide information, instructions, training, and supervision
• General Administrative Regulation 8 — Report incidents arising from workplace hazards
• Environmental Regulations for Workplaces — Specific exposure limits and monitoring

Construction Regulations (2014)

• Regulation 9 — Fall protection plan based on risk assessment
• Regulation 11 — Structures — risk of collapse assessment
• Regulation 13 — Excavation risk assessment
• Regulation 23 — Construction health and safety specification based on baseline risk assessment

Approved Risk Assessment Methodologies

1. Baseline Risk Assessment

Conducted before operations begin or when significant changes occur. Maps all hazards across the entire workplace.

2. Issue-Based Risk Assessment

Focused on specific hazards or activities — chemical exposure, working at heights, electrical work.

3. Continuous Risk Assessment

Day-to-day assessment by workers and supervisors before starting tasks. Often uses permit-to-work systems.

The Risk Assessment Process

Step 1: Identify Hazards Walk the workplace systematically. Review incident records, maintenance logs, and chemical inventories.

Step 2: Identify Who Might Be Harmed Consider workers, contractors, visitors, neighbours, and vulnerable groups.

Step 3: Evaluate Risks Use a risk matrix combining likelihood and severity to prioritise risks.

Step 4: Determine Controls Apply the hierarchy of controls: Eliminate → Substitute → Engineering → Administrative → PPE

Step 5: Record and Communicate Document findings in a risk register accessible to all affected parties.

Step 6: Review and Update Risk assessments are living documents — review after incidents, changes, or at least annually.

Documentation Standards

A legally compliant risk assessment must include:

• Date of assessment and review date
• Name and qualifications of the assessor
• Area/activity assessed
• Hazards identified with risk ratings
• Existing controls and their effectiveness
• Additional controls required with responsible persons and deadlines
• Signatures of relevant parties

Building Risk Assessment Competence

OHS Compliance Group's Risk Assessment Training

Our risk assessment training is built on 22+ years of real-world consulting experience:

• HIRA Training — Comprehensive hazard identification and risk assessment course
• NEBOSH IGC — Unit GIC1 Element 2 covers risk assessment principles in depth
• ISO 45001 Implementation — Integrating risk assessment into management systems
• Corporate Workshops — Customized risk assessment training at your premises
• Practical Assessment Support — Help applying learned skills to your actual workplace

We've conducted risk assessments for Transnet, Eskom, PRASA, and dozens of other major South African employers. Our facilitators bring this real-world expertise into every training session.

Book risk assessment training or explore our HIRA courses.