Safety: The Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, requires the employer to bring about and maintain, as far as reasonably practicable, a work environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the workers. This means that the employer must ensure that the workplace is free of hazardous substances, such as benzene, chlorine and micro-organisms, articles, equipment, processes, etc. that may cause injury, damage or disease.
Where this is not possible, the employer must inform workers of these dangers, how they may be prevented, and how to work safely, and provide other protective measures for a safe workplace.
However, it is not expected of the employer to take sole responsibility for health and safety. The Act is based on the principle that communication and co-operation between the workers and the employer must address dangers in the workplace. The workers and the employer must share the responsibility for health and safety in the workplace. Both parties must pro-actively identify dangers and develop control measures to make the workplace safe. In this way, the employer and the workers are involved in a system where health and safety representatives may inspect the workplace regularly and then report to a health and safety committee, who in turn may submit recommendations to the employer.
To ensure that this system works, every worker must know his or her rights and duties as contained in the Act.
Compliance: The College shall strive to comply and satisfy all legislative requirements. This includes accreditation and/or registration with all relevant bodies as well as aligning all programmes to the NQF and seeking approval for all programmes from the relevant quality assuring bodies.