8 October 2026 by ASC Team
A health and safety committee that meets, minutes nothing and recommends nothing is a tea break with an agenda. Sections 19 and 20 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 give the committee a job and the employer a set of duties towards it: the employer must establish it where two or more representatives are designated, consult it on health and safety measures, provide a meeting place, keep its records for three years, and bring every incident record to its next meeting; the committee may make recommendations to the employer and, if the matter is not resolved, to an inspector, must discuss every incident in which someone was hurt, and must record what it recommends. This guide sets out what the committee may ask, what the employer must do, and what happens at a committee that has stopped meeting.
When must there be a committee, and who sits on it?
Section 19(1): where two or more health and safety representatives have been designated at a workplace, the employer must establish one or more health and safety committees. The threshold is representatives, not headcount; a site with more than 20 employees designates representatives under section 17(1), and once there are two of them there is a committee.
Section 19(2) sets the membership. Where there is one committee, every representative at the workplace is a member. Where there are two or more, each representative is a member of at least one. The employer may nominate members too, but the number of employer nominees on a committee may not exceed the number of health and safety representatives on it. The employer sets the total size. Section 19(3) says the employer designates its nominees in writing for a period it sets, and representatives serve for the period of their section 17(1) designation. Section 19(6) allows the committee to co-opt people with relevant knowledge as advisory members, and they may not vote.
Section 19(5) leaves the committee to set its own procedure for meetings. That means the chair, the agenda, the quorum and the way decisions are recorded are the committee’s to decide, and a committee that has never decided them has handed them to whoever happens to run the meeting.
What may the committee ask, and what must it do?
| The committee | Section | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| May make recommendations to the employer on any matter affecting the health or safety of persons at the workplace | 20(1)(a) | A recommendation is a sentence with a verb, an owner and a date: “that the committee recommends a barrier rail with gated crossings in the forklift aisle, by the end of March” |
| May, where its recommendations to the employer fail to resolve a matter, make recommendations to an inspector | 20(1)(a) | The step after the second unanswered recommendation. The committee decides it, and the minutes record it |
| Must discuss any incident at the workplace in which a person was injured, became ill or died, and may report in writing to an inspector on any incident it discusses | 20(1)(b) | Every injury on the Annexure 1 register, at the next meeting, with the investigation’s findings and the committee’s remarks entered in section 4 of the form |
| Must keep a record of each recommendation to the employer and each report to an inspector | 20(2) | If it is not in the minutes, it was not recommended |
| Must be consulted by the employer on initiating, developing, promoting, maintaining and reviewing measures for health and safety | 19(1) | A new chemical, a new line, a change to the shift pattern, a new PPE: the committee hears about it before, not after |
| Must meet as often as necessary and at least once every three months | 19(4) | Four meetings a year is the floor, not the target |
The regulations add specific duties that make the committee the place where several things must land. Under the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, regulation 3, training is set up after consulting the committee; under regulation 5, the representative or committee gets written notice of the exposure assessment arrangements, time to comment, and the results; under regulation 9, assessment and air monitoring records go to the representative or committee. The Ergonomics Regulations, 2019 require the training programme under regulation 3 and the ergonomic risk assessment under regulation 6 to follow consultation with the committee or representatives. A committee that has never been shown a chemical risk assessment has a question to ask.
What must the employer do?
| The employer must | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Establish the committee where two or more representatives are designated | Section 19(1) |
| Consult the committee on initiating, developing, promoting, maintaining and reviewing health and safety measures | Section 19(1) |
| Hold a meeting when an inspector directs, and on the written request of more than 10 percent of the employees concerned | Section 19(4) |
| Designate its nominees in writing, and keep their number no higher than the representatives on the committee | Sections 19(2) and 19(3) |
| Make available a suitable meeting place | General Administrative Regulation 5(a) |
| Keep the committee’s section 20(2) records for at least three years | General Administrative Regulation 5(b) |
| Have the committee examine every Annexure 1 incident record at its next meeting, and ensure that reasonably practicable steps are implemented and followed up to prevent a recurrence | General Administrative Regulation 9(4) |
| Inform representatives beforehand of inspections an inspector has notified, and of any incident in their section as soon as reasonably practicable | Section 13(b) and (c) |
| Allow representatives’ committee attendance in ordinary working hours, counted as time worked | Section 17(7) |
| Bring any prohibition, direction or notice from an inspector to the attention of the affected representatives and employees forthwith | Section 30(6) |
What the Act does not say is that the employer must accept a recommendation. Section 20(1) gives the committee the power to recommend, and the route to an inspector if the matter is not resolved; it does not give the committee the power to decide. What closes the gap in practice is section 37(1): if an employee’s act or omission would be an offence for the employer, the employer is presumed to have done it unless it proves, among other things, that all reasonable steps were taken. A recorded recommendation that was declined without reasons is evidence against reasonable steps. A recorded recommendation that was declined with reasons, and an alternative control that works, is evidence for them.
What happened at Mzansi’s committee?
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, a training scenario built from real audit, inspection and incident patterns. No real company is named. Nine representatives were designated in 2024. By mid 2026 three had left and not been replaced, the night shift and the agency workers had no representative, and the committee had last met in February 2026. In between, the site had seven lost time injuries, an inspection that produced a prohibition and a contravention notice, and a hazardous chemical agents risk assessment that stayed five years old.
Look at what the gap cost in the Act’s terms. Section 19(4) was breached from May. The seven injuries were on the Annexure 1 register, and General Administrative Regulation 9(4) required the committee to examine each at its next meeting, which never came. Section 30(6) required the inspector’s prohibition and direction to be brought to the attention of the representatives forthwith; it was emailed to the operations director. The regulation 5 chemical assessment, when it was finally commissioned, needed the committee’s written notice and comment, and there was no committee to notify.
In the case, the SHEQ officer, Bongani Zulu, restarts the committee in the second half of 2026 with four things: a written request for a meeting, replacement designations under the General Administrative Regulation 6 agreement so that the night shift is covered, the Annexure 1 register on the table as the first agenda item, and a minutes template with three columns, recommendation, employer’s response and date. The first meeting makes two recommendations under section 20(1)(a): the hazardous chemical agents risk assessment to be done and brought to the committee under regulation 5, and the forklift aisle to be physically separated, under section 8(2)(b), which requires the employer to eliminate or reduce a hazard before resorting to personal protective equipment. Both are minuted. The employer’s response is due at the next meeting. That is a committee doing its job.
How do you run a meeting that produces something?
Five habits. Open with the incident register, because regulation 9(4) requires it and because it sets the tone: people got hurt, and this is where it is examined. Take representatives’ inspection findings next, one per representative, as proposed recommendations, worded with a verb, an owner and a date. Record every recommendation under section 20(2), and record the employer’s response or the date it is due. Carry forward every open item until it is closed, in writing. And decide, as a committee, when an unresolved item goes to the inspector under section 20(1), so that the step is a procedure and not a threat.
On an ISO 45001 site, the same committee is the obvious mechanism for clause 5.4, which requires consultation and participation of workers at all applicable levels and the removal of obstacles such as language, reprisals and failure to respond to worker inputs. An auditor reading the minutes will look for the employer’s responses to the recommendations, because a recommendation without a response is the failure to respond that the standard names.
Frequently asked questions
How often must the committee meet?
Section 19(4): as often as necessary, and at least once every three months. Also when an inspector directs, and on the written request of more than 10 percent of the employees concerned.
Who chairs the committee?
The Act does not say. Section 19(5) leaves the committee to set its own procedure, which includes the chair. Many sites alternate, or choose a representative, so that the committee is not simply the employer’s meeting.
Can management outnumber the representatives?
No. Section 19(2): the number of employer nominees on a committee may not exceed the number of health and safety representatives on it. Co-opted advisers under 19(6) do not vote.
Must the employer do what the committee recommends?
The Act gives the committee the power to recommend under section 20(1), and the route to an inspector if the matter is not resolved. It does not oblige the employer to accept. The employer’s duties under section 8, and the reasonable steps test in section 37(1), are what make a declined recommendation a risk for the employer.
How long are the minutes kept?
General Administrative Regulation 5(b): the records the committee keeps under section 20(2) are kept by the employer for at least three years.
What goes to the committee from an incident?
Every Annexure 1 record, at the next meeting, under General Administrative Regulation 9(4), and the committee must discuss any incident in which a person was injured, became ill or died, under section 20(1). Section 4 of Annexure 1 is for the committee’s remarks and the chairperson’s signature.
Which ASC course trains representatives and committee members?
This guide is drawn from Health and Safety Representative, FS66, a course for newly designated and existing representatives, committee members including the employer’s nominees, and the supervisors and SHEQ officers who support them. Lesson 1.4 covers sections 19 and 20, lesson 2.4 covers the committee meeting, and the Module 3 case study is the committee that stopped meeting.
R895, prices in rand with no VAT added. About 5 hours, self paced, lifetime access.
- Sections 17 and 18, the General Administrative Regulations agreement, your protection, and the committee under sections 19 and 20.
- Inspections, hazard reports, examining incidents with the employer, preparing and raising items, getting a decision recorded and following up.
- A workshop on the Mzansi packing hall in the Representative’s Inspection and Report tool, with a committee item form.
- Three knowledge checks, three games, six scenario checks, three case study assessments and a final, all at 70 percent.
Enrol now and do the job the Act describes. All eight courses and the free guides sit at ISO 45001 and health and safety training. For the SHEQ officer who runs the committee, South African Occupational Health and Safety Law, FS64, R1 495, goes to regulation depth. For a team, ask about a group arrangement on WhatsApp ASC.
Related guides: Your first month as a health and safety representative and What the inspector asks for first.
Sources
- Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993, sections 8, 13, 17, 19, 20, 30 and 37, SAFLII consolidated text, saflii.org
- General Administrative Regulations, 2003, regulations 5, 6 and 9 and Annexure 1, saflii.org
- Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents (GN R280 of 2021), regulations 3, 5 and 9, lawlibrary.org.za; Ergonomics Regulations, 2019, regulations 3 and 6
- ISO 45001:2018, Occupational health and safety management systems: Requirements with guidance for use (ISO), clause 5.4
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.