Construction safety law in South Africa sits in two layers: the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (the OHS Act) sets the general duties, and the Construction Regulations 2014 turn those duties into construction-specific rules on appointments, plans, permits and notifications. Both are enforced by Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) inspectors, and both apply to you whether you are building a mega-dam or converting a garage.
The two-layer law
The OHS Act is the parent statute. It puts general duties on employers, employees and designers, and gives DEL inspectors their powers. The Construction Regulations 2014 (Government Notice R84, gazetted 7 February 2014) are made under section 43 of the Act and cover everything construction-specific: who must be appointed, what plans must exist, and when the DEL must be told before work starts.
One thing to watch: the DEL published Draft Construction Regulations 2024 for public comment (Government Gazette 52267, Notice 5983, 12 March 2025). When finalised, these will repeal and replace the 2014 Regulations, and the thresholds and design-risk duties are proposed to change significantly. Until then, the 2014 Regulations are the law.
Who carries which duty
The Regulations split duties between three parties, plus the designer:
- The client (the person paying for the work) must, under Regulation 5, prepare a baseline risk assessment, write a health and safety specification, appoint the principal contractor in writing, make money available for health and safety, and audit the site at least every 30 days.
- The principal contractor (PC) must, under Regulations 7 and 8, develop a health and safety plan in response to the client's specification, make the required written appointments, manage every subcontractor on site, and keep the health and safety file.
- Contractors and subcontractors must, under Regulation 9, work to the PC's plan, do their own risk assessments, and hand their safety file to the PC.
- The designer must, under Regulation 6, flag foreseeable risks in the design and make sure it can be built without unreasonable hazard.
On a small house job, the same person often wears two hats. A sole-trader builder on a R2.5 million house contract is the principal contractor, and the homeowner is the client. The builder can appoint themselves as construction manager if competent, but the appointment must still be in writing, and the homeowner still owes the client duties, even in a simple form.
Permits and notifications
Two separate triggers exist, and they are widely confused.
The construction work permit (apply to the DEL Provincial Director at least 30 days before starting). The 2014 Regulations set the base triggers at work exceeding 180 days, involving more than 1,800 person-days, or with a contract value above R13 million (the CIDB Grade 6 level referenced in the Regulations). A Chief Inspector exemption notice has since modified the duration and person-day triggers to 365 days and 3,600 person-days, with a higher grade value trigger. Industry sources quote conflicting rand figures for the current value threshold, so do not rely on a number you read online: confirm the current exemption notice with the DEL before deciding whether your project needs a permit. Permit applications must include the health and safety specification and plan, the baseline risk assessment, and proof that a construction health and safety agent registered with the SACPCMP has been appointed.
Notification of construction work (at least 7 days before starting). The contractor must notify the DEL Provincial Director of work that includes excavation, working at a height where there is a risk of falling, demolition of a structure, or the use of explosives. Notification is also required where the work will run more than 30 days with more than 20 workers on site at any one time, or involve more than 500 person-days. Work that triggers the full permit does not also need a separate notification.
The paperwork trio: specification, plan, file
- Health and safety specification: the client's document, prepared before tender. It is site-specific, based on the baseline risk assessment, and goes into every tender pack.
- Health and safety plan: the PC's answer to the specification. The client must approve it before work starts, and it stays on site for inspection.
- Health and safety file: the PC's running record of the project: appointments, inductions, risk assessments, method statements, incident reports and inspections. At the end of the job it is handed to the client for the life of the building.
Mandatory appointments under Regulation 8
The PC must appoint, in writing: a full-time construction manager (one site at a time only), an alternate when the manager is unavailable, assistant managers on large or complex sections, construction supervisors for day-to-day work, and competent employees to assist supervisors. A construction health and safety officer, who must be SACPCMP-registered, is required based on the size and hazard profile of the site. A supervisor may cover more than one site only if enough competent assistants are appointed.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a small job means no duties. Even a single-house contract has a client, a PC, written appointments and a safety file.
- Skipping the 7-day notification because the job is short. Excavation or fall-risk work triggers it regardless of duration.
- The client doing nothing. No specification, no 30-day audits, no written PC appointment: that exposes the client directly, not just the builder.
- Treating the safety file as launch paperwork. It is a living record; an inspector will ask for last week's entries, not just day one's.
- Quoting an online permit threshold. The exemption notice moves; confirm the current one with the DEL.
Know someone who needs this?
Keep reading
Was this guide useful?
Didn't find what you were looking for?
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Email us at hello@kilnguides.co.uk.
In crisis? SADAG 0800 567 567 ·