Health and safety representatives, often called SHE reps, are the backbone of worker participation under South Africa's Occupational Health and Safety Act. This free quiz checks what the Act says about them in fourteen questions, with the section behind every answer.
Representatives and committees in the Act
The Occupational Health and Safety Act, No. 85 of 1993 requires every employer with more than 20 employees at a workplace to designate health and safety representatives in writing, after consulting the employees on how they are nominated or elected (section 17). There must be at least one for every 100 employees in shops and offices, and at least one for every 50 in all other workplaces. Only full-time employees who know the conditions and activities of that workplace can be designated, and their activities and training take place in ordinary working hours.
A representative may review the effectiveness of health and safety measures, identify hazards, examine the causes of incidents with the employer, investigate complaints, inspect the workplace at agreed intervals and accompany inspectors (section 18). Where two or more representatives are designated, the employer must set up a health and safety committee, which meets at least once every three months (section 19). «SHE rep» (safety, health and environment) is the name many companies use; the Act says «health and safety representative».
What the quiz covers
- when representatives are needed and how many (section 17);
- their functions, inspections and protection from civil liability (section 18);
- health and safety committees (section 19);
- the employer's duty to eliminate or mitigate hazards before relying on PPE (section 8) and the ban on deductions for safety equipment (section 23);
- the employee's duty to report an incident by the end of the shift (section 14);
- incidents that must be reported to an inspector, such as injuries likely to keep a person off work for at least 14 days (section 24).
Practice, not the course assessment
These questions were written by Quizhat from the Act as published in the Government Gazette. They are not the questions of any SHE rep course or of SAMTRAC, and Quizhat is not affiliated with the Department of Employment and Labour, NOSA or any training provider. Regulations under the Act add details, for example on how incidents are reported: check them with your employer or your training provider.