What the OHS Inspector Asks For First (SA)

8 October 2026 by ASC Team

A Department of Employment and Labour inspector does not need an appointment. Section 29(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 lets an inspector enter any premises without previous notice at all reasonable times, question any person, and require records to be produced. What the inspector asks for in the first hour is not random. It is the short list of records that tell them, before they walk the floor, whether the site has a system or a file: the section 16(2) assignments, the health and safety representatives and committee minutes, the risk assessments, the incident register, the appointments and certificates for machinery and pressure equipment, and the copy of the Act. This guide goes through that list, names the section or regulation behind each item, and says what a notice under section 30 does to the business.

Why does the first hour matter so much?

Because the inspector forms a view of the site from the records before seeing a single machine, and the floor walk then confirms or contradicts it. A lever arch file with a 2021 risk assessment, two appointment letters and a boiler certificate tells the inspector what the floor will look like. A legal register with the current regulations, an appointments register with dates, and committee minutes from last month will still be followed by a walk, but a different one.

The Department’s reply to Parliament of 10 July 2025 listed the most common OHS violations in the first half of 2025: the Electrical Installation Regulations, with no certificates of compliance; the General Safety Regulations, with hazards not removed and inadequate PPE; the General Administrative Regulations, with no committees or representatives; environmental exposure; and the Hazardous Chemical Agents Regulations, on labelling, storage and handling. That list is a fair guide to what gets asked for first.

What is on the list, and which section is behind each item?

What the inspector asks for	The law behind it	What a good answer looks like
The section 16(2) assignments	Section 16(1) places the duty to ensure the employer’s duties are discharged on the chief executive officer; 16(2) allows assignment to a person under the CEO’s control, without relieving the CEO	Signed letters naming the duties, the person and the period, and an assignee who can say what was assigned. The Act does not require writing; the letter is the evidence
Health and safety representatives	Section 17(1): more than 20 employees at a workplace, designated in writing for a specified period; 17(5): at least one for every 50 employees or part of 50, one per 100 in shops and offices; General Administrative Regulations 6 and 7: the agreement that comes first	Designations in writing, covering every area and shift including the night shift, with the agency workers counted, because the Act excludes a labour broker from the definition of employer
Committee minutes	Section 19(1): a committee where two or more representatives are designated; 19(4): meets at least once every three months; section 20(2) and General Administrative Regulation 5: records kept at least three years	Minutes from within the last three months, recommendations recorded, and the employer’s response to each
The incident register and investigations	General Administrative Regulation 9: an Annexure 1 record of every reportable incident and every incident that needed medical treatment beyond first aid, kept three years, investigated within seven days	An Annexure 1 register with the investigation findings entered, the committee’s remarks, and the steps taken
The section 24 reports	Section 24 and General Administrative Regulation 8: within seven days on WCL 1 or WCL 2 for the 14 day class, forthwith by telephone or similar means for a death, unconsciousness, loss of a limb or the more serious injuries and the endangerment incidents	The reports and the dates, matched to the register
The risk assessments	Section 8(2)(d): establish the hazards and the precautionary measures; Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, regulation 5, at intervals not exceeding two years; Ergonomics Regulations, 2019, regulation 6, by a competent person at intervals not exceeding two years; Physical Agents Regulations, 2024, regulation 6, reviewed at least every 24 months	A baseline, task based assessments for the high risk tasks, and the regulation specific assessments with dates inside their intervals
Machinery appointments and inspections	General Machinery Regulations, regulation 2: a full time competent person designated in writing; Driven Machinery Regulations, 2015, regulation 18(5) and (7): lifting machines examined at least every 12 months, with an on site register; 18(11): operators trained for the type of machine	The designation, the register of tests, and the operator certificates
Pressure equipment and electrical certificates	Pressure Equipment Regulations, 2009, regulation 8: no steam generator used without a registration certificate; regulation 11: approved inspection authority inspections at the set intervals; Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, regulation 7: a valid certificate of compliance, produced on request	The registration certificate, the AIA certificates and the certificate of compliance, with one for every alteration since
The copy of the Act	General Administrative Regulation 4: an employer with five or more employees keeps a copy of the Act and the relevant regulations readily available at the workplace	A current copy, with the 2024 regulations and not the ones they replaced

What happened at Mzansi in May 2026?

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 patterns. No real company is named. In May 2026 an inspector arrived mid morning and asked the SHEQ officer, Bongani Zulu, for the 16(2) assignments, the committee minutes and the hazardous chemical agents risk assessment.

He had two 16(2) letters, for the operations director and the engineering manager. The committee last met in February. Nine representatives were designated in 2024; three had left, and with 460 employees for the Act, agency workers counted, the site needed at least ten. The hazardous chemical agents risk assessment was dated 2021, against a regulation 5 interval of two years at most. There was no record of the medical surveillance decision for the hygiene team’s chemical exposure, and no assessment deciding it.

Then the walk. The line 2 sleeve applicator had an unguarded nip point; General Machinery Regulation 3 requires dangerous parts within reach to be safeguarded. The dough mixer’s interlock had failed. By afternoon the site had a prohibition on the mixer under section 30(1)(b) until the interlock was repaired, and a direction, which the Department calls a contravention notice, on three items: the nip point, no hazardous chemical agents risk assessment since 2021, and no record of the surveillance decision for the hygiene team. It did not name the ammonia plant operators. Section 30(6) required both to be brought to the affected representatives and employees forthwith.

Nothing on the floor surprised her. The first hour had told her where to look.

What does a notice under section 30 actually do?

The Act does not use the words “contravention notice” or “improvement notice”; those are the Department’s names for what section 30 lets an inspector do. Section 30(1)(a) lets the inspector prohibit in writing an employer’s act or omission that threatens health or safety, 30(1)(b) prohibits a user from using plant or machinery in a threatening manner, and 30(1)(c) prohibits exposure of employees to a threatening article, substance or condition. Section 30(2) lets the inspector barricade the area, and nobody may interfere with the barricade. Section 30(3) lets the inspector direct in writing that specified steps be taken within a specified period where reasonable steps have not been taken, and 30(4) does the same where a regulation has not been complied with. Section 30(5) lets the period be extended in writing.

Three things catch sites out. A prohibition stops the work until the inspector revokes it in writing under 30(1)(d), once satisfactory arrangements remove the threat. An appeal does not restart the work: section 35 allows an appeal to the chief inspector within 60 days of the decision being made known, and then to the Labour Court within 60 days, but section 35(5) says an appeal against a 30(1)(a) or (b) prohibition does not suspend it. And the Act is silent on whether employees are paid during a prohibition, so assume no rule either way.

Behind the notices sit the offences. Section 38(1): a fine of up to R50 000 or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, for contravening the listed provisions. Section 38(2): up to R100 000 or two years, or both, for an employer or user whose act or omission injures a person in circumstances that would have been culpable homicide had the person died. And section 37(1) presumes the employer did what its employee did unless it proves the employee acted without permission, outside the scope of their authority, and that all reasonable steps were taken; instructions forbidding the act are not, on their own, enough.

How do you prepare, without preparing for the inspector?

You do not. You build the register and keep it true, and the inspection becomes a day on which you show it. The register has four parts. A legal register that lists every instrument that applies and says how: not “General Safety Regulations” but “regulation 3(4), 460 employees outside shops and offices, at least ten first aiders readily available on both shifts”. An appointments register of every appointment the law creates, who holds it, when it was signed, when it lapses and the competence behind it, including the Employee Health and Wellness Representative that the COIDA regulations of 6 March 2026 require, as law firms report them. An evaluation of compliance at a set frequency that records the evidence against each line. And a way of keeping it current, because the Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024 and the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 replaced the 2003 and 1987 regulations on 6 September 2026, and a register that still cites the old ones is wrong on the day the inspector reads it.

The other preparation is people. Section 13(b) requires the employer to inform representatives beforehand of inspections an inspector has notified, and section 18(2) entitles a representative to accompany an inspector. A site whose representatives are trained and current answers differently from one where the SHEQ officer walks alone.

Frequently asked questions

Can an inspector arrive without notice?

Yes. Section 29(1) allows entry without previous notice at all reasonable times. The inspector carries a section 28 certificate and must produce it on demand.

Must we let the inspector take our records?

Section 29(1) allows the inspector to require records, examine them and seize anything that may be evidence. The employer may copy records first, and section 29(4) requires a receipt for anything removed.

Does an ISO 45001 certificate help?

Not as a defence. The Act makes no mention of certification, and nothing in it reduces an employer’s duties or an inspector’s powers because a site is certified. A working system puts the first hour records in order, which is a different kind of help.

What if we cannot meet the period in the direction?

Section 30(5) lets the inspector extend the period by written notice. Ask in writing before it expires, with the reasons and the plan.

Does an appeal stop a prohibition?

No. Section 35(5) says an appeal against a prohibition under 30(1)(a) or (b) does not suspend it. The work stays stopped until the inspector revokes the prohibition under 30(1)(d).

Who must be told about a notice?

Section 30(6): the employer must forthwith bring a prohibition, direction or notice to the attention of the affected representatives and employees.

Which ASC course teaches the law the inspector enforces?

This guide is drawn from South African Occupational Health and Safety Law, FS64, a course for SHEQ officers, section 16(2) assignees, HR managers and consultants: anyone who must build the legal register and answer an inspector.

R1 495, in rand, no VAT added. About 7 hours, self paced, lifetime access.

The OHS Act section by section: duties, representatives and committees, reporting, inspectors, notices and penalties.
Every regulation a food site meets, including the 2024 noise and physical agents regulations.
The COID Act as amended from 2026, the letter of good standing and the administrative penalties.
The Mzansi legal register and appointments register built in the Legal Register tool, and a lesson on inspections and notices.
Knowledge checks, games, scenario checks, case study assessments and a final, all at 70 percent.

Enrol now and know the law you answer to. 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 8, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 24, 28, 29, 30, 35, 37 and 38
General Administrative Regulations, 2003, regulations 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9; General Safety Regulations, 1986, regulation 3; General Machinery Regulations, 1988, regulations 2 and 3; Driven Machinery Regulations, 2015, regulation 18; Pressure Equipment Regulations, 2009, regulations 8 and 11; Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009, regulation 7; Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents (GN R280 of 2021), regulations 5 and 7; Ergonomics Regulations, 2019, regulations 6 and 8; Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 and Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024, Government Gazette 52226, 6 March 2025
COIDA regulations of 6 March 2026 as reported by law firms: ENS
Ministerial reply to Parliamentary Question NW4169, 10 July 2025, pmg.org.za
Department of Employment and Labour media statement on notices, gov.za

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.