Section 14 of the OHS Act: Every Worker’s Duties

8 October 2026 by ASC Team

Most workers in South Africa have never been told that the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 has a section about them. It does. Section 14 gives every employee five duties: take reasonable care of your own health and safety and of other people’s, cooperate with your employer so that the Act can be carried out, obey the lawful orders and the health and safety rules, report an unsafe or unhealthy situation as soon as you can, and report any incident that hurt you or could affect your health by the end of the shift. In return, the employer owes you a safe working environment under section 8, the information under section 13, and the protection from victimisation under section 26. This guide puts all of that in plain words, with one night shift at a ready meals plant as the example.

Why does the law give workers duties at all?

Because the employer cannot see everything. Section 8(1) requires every employer to provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of employees. Section 8(2) lists what that includes: safe systems of work, plant and machinery; eliminating or reducing a hazard before resorting to personal protective equipment; establishing the hazards and the precautionary measures; information, instruction, training and supervision; and enforcing the measures. That is the employer’s side, and it is the bigger side.

But the guard that was removed at 02h00, the wet floor by the kettles, the forklift driver who cuts the corner, the label that fell off the drum: the person who sees these first is the person doing the work. Section 14 is the law’s way of saying that what you see, you must act on, and that the employer may rely on you to do so.

What are the five duties in section 14?

Section 14 says	In plain words	What it looks like on the floor
(a) Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and for that of other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions	Look after yourself and the people around you	Wear the cut resistant glove on the slicer. Do not walk under a raised load. Do not leave the CIP hose across the aisle
(b) Cooperate with the employer so that the duties under the Act can be performed	Help the site do what the law asks of it	Go to the training. Sit the hearing test. Answer the representative’s questions straight
(c) Carry out any lawful order and obey the health and safety rules and procedures	Follow the rules that are there for safety	Lock out before you clear the jam. Do not enter the kettle without the permit. Keep to the walkway
(d) Report an unsafe or unhealthy situation to the employer or the health and safety representative as soon as practicable	If something is unsafe, tell someone, now	The guard is off. The eyewash bottle is empty. The forklift’s horn does not work
(e) Report any incident that may affect your health or that caused an injury to the employer or the representative by the end of the shift, or as soon as practicable after that if you could not	If you got hurt, or something happened that could make you ill, say so before you go home	The splash that got your arm. The box that fell and missed you. The fumes that made you dizzy

Two things about the wording matter. Duty (d) says “as soon as practicable”: not at the end of the shift, not at the next committee meeting. Duty (e) says “by the end of the shift in which it occurred”, which is the law’s clock for reporting an injury, and it exists because an injury reported the next week is an injury nobody can investigate.

There is also section 15, which binds everyone, not only employees: nobody may intentionally or recklessly interfere with, damage or misuse anything provided in the interest of health or safety. Taking a guard off or propping a fire door open are section 15 matters.

What happened on the night shift at Mzansi?

Mzansi Fresh Meals is the case site in ASC’s courses: a chilled ready meals plant in Kempton Park with 400 people on two shifts and 60 agency workers, most of them at night. It is a training scenario built from real audit, inspection and incident patterns; no real company is named. The hygiene team works from 22h00 to 05h00 and does the CIP of the lines.

At 23h00 a new agency worker, three nights into the job, was told by the hygiene team leader, Zanele Dube, to decant caustic for the CIP run. She had been given a 30 minute talk on her first night, mostly about hairnets. Nobody had shown her the label on the drum, or what the GHS pictogram on it meant. The face shield was on a hook on the far wall. The eyewash bottle by the door was empty, and had been for a week; two people on the team knew and had not said anything, because it was always empty. She decanted the caustic without the face shield, because the hook was far away and the team leader was waiting.

Nothing happened that night. The year before, in the same store, a caustic splash had cost another worker 21 days, and the investigation had said “operator did not follow procedure”. Look at the night through section 14. The empty eyewash bottle was a (d) situation that two people had not reported. The missing face shield at the point of use was a (d) situation too. The agency worker had not been told what the label meant, which is the employer’s duty under section 13(a): to make every employee aware, as far as is reasonably practicable, of the hazards attached to the work and the substances used, and of the precautionary measures. And the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, regulation 3, require training before exposure. The 30 minute talk was not that.

So the law was broken on both sides, and the side with the bigger duty was the employer’s. But two workers who had seen an empty eyewash bottle for a week and said nothing had a section 14(d) duty, and the reason they said nothing is the part of section 14 that every site has to deal with.

What does the employer owe in return?

Three things that make section 14 possible. First, the information. Section 13(a) requires the employer to make you aware of the hazards and the precautions, and General Safety Regulation 2(5) requires instruction in the proper use, maintenance and limitations of your safety equipment. If nobody has told you what the pictogram means, you cannot take reasonable care of yourself around it.

Second, the equipment, free. General Safety Regulation 2(2) requires the employer to provide free of charge and maintain in a good and clean condition the safety equipment and facilities the work needs, and section 23 of the Act forbids deducting from your pay, or making you pay, for anything the employer must provide in the interest of health or safety. The glove, the earplugs, the face shield and the eyewash are the employer’s to provide and keep working.

Third, the protection. Section 26(1) says an employer may not dismiss you, reduce your pay or change your terms or position to your disadvantage because you gave information required under the Act, complied with an inspector’s requirement, did anything you may or must do under the Act, or refused to do anything you are prohibited from doing under it. Reporting the empty eyewash is something you must do under section 14(d). Section 26 is what stands behind you when you do.

One thing the Act does not give in general industry is an express right to refuse or leave dangerous work. That right is in the Mine Health and Safety Act, section 23, and applies only on mines. What the OHS Act gives is the duty to report under 14(d), the health and safety representative under section 18 who can take it further and, failing that, to an inspector, and section 26 behind both. On a site that runs ISO 45001, clause 7.3 f) requires workers to be made aware of their ability to remove themselves from imminent and serious danger and of the arrangements that protect them, so the site must set that up itself.

Who do you tell, and what if nothing happens?

Section 14(d) and (e) both say “to the employer or to the health and safety representative”. Your supervisor is the employer’s hands for this. Your representative is designated under section 17 to, among other things, identify potential hazards and make representations to the employer, the committee or, failing that, an inspector. If you tell your supervisor and the eyewash is still empty next week, tell your representative. If there is no representative on your shift, which is the case for the night shift at Mzansi, that is itself a problem the site has to fix under section 17, and the committee under section 19 is where it gets raised.

Keep it simple. Say what you saw, where, when, and who you told. Use the hazard report form or the near miss card if the site has one; if not, a message to the supervisor with the time on it is a record. The point is not the form. The Act asked you to say it, and you did.

Frequently asked questions

Does section 14 apply to agency workers?

Yes. The Act excludes a labour broker from the definition of employer, so agency staff who work under the site’s direction are the site’s employees for the Act. Section 14 applies to them, and section 8 and section 13 apply to the site for them.

Can I be disciplined for breaking a safety rule?

Section 14(c) requires you to obey the health and safety rules and procedures, so a breach can be a disciplinary matter under the site’s own rules and labour law. The Act also makes certain contraventions offences. What the Act forbids under section 26 is punishing you for doing what it requires, such as reporting.

What must I report by the end of the shift?

Section 14(e): any incident that may affect your health or that caused an injury to you. A cut, a splash, a fall, fumes that made you ill, and an incident that nearly hurt you all belong in that report. If you could not report it by the end of the shift, report it as soon as you can after that.

Do I have to pay for PPE I lose?

Section 23 forbids the employer from deducting from your pay, or requiring you to pay, for anything it must provide under the Act in the interest of health or safety. General Safety Regulation 2(2) says the equipment is provided free of charge. Look after it, and ask for a replacement when it is worn or does not fit.

Can I refuse to do a job I think is dangerous?

The OHS Act has no general express right to refuse dangerous work; that right is in the Mine Health and Safety Act and applies only on mines. Section 14(d) requires you to report the unsafe situation, your representative can take it further, an inspector can prohibit the work under section 30, and section 26 protects you for reporting. On an ISO 45001 site, the organisation must set up the ability to withdraw from imminent and serious danger under clause 7.3 f).

Where can I read the Act?

At work. General Administrative Regulation 4 requires an employer with five or more employees to keep a copy of the Act and the relevant regulations readily available at the workplace. Ask where it is.

Which ASC course teaches every worker their part?

This guide is drawn from Health and Safety Awareness, FS65, a short course for every employee, agency worker and contractor’s worker at induction, and for supervisors as a refresher.

R495, prices in rand with no VAT added. About 3 hours, self paced, lifetime access.

Ten lessons of eight to twelve minutes, in plain words, set on the floor of a ready meals plant.
Section 14 and what the employer owes under sections 8 and 13; the hazards where you work; the hierarchy of controls and why PPE is the last line.
PPE, permits, lockout, signs and barriers; your representative and section 26; near misses and incidents; emergencies; contractors; your health.
Two knowledge checks, two games, four scenario checks, two case study assessments and a final, all at 70 percent.
A certificate of completion with a verification code for the training file.

Enrol now, or enrol your whole floor. All eight courses and the free guides sit at ISO 45001 and health and safety training. For a team, ask about a group arrangement on WhatsApp ASC.

Sources

Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, sections 1, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23, 26 and 30, SAFLII consolidated text, saflii.org
General Safety Regulations, 1986, regulation 2; General Administrative Regulations, 2003, regulation 4; Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents (GN R280 of 2021), regulation 3
Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996, section 23
ISO 45001:2018, Occupational health and safety management systems: Requirements with guidance for use (ISO), clause 7.3

This guide is training, not legal advice. ISO 45001 is copyright and is not reproduced here. ASC is not affiliated with ISO. Last updated 8 October 2026.