18.2 Incorporated Standards, SANS and Personal Protective Equipment Selection
Key Takeaways
- Section 44 lets the Minister incorporate a health and safety standard by reference, and section 44(3) deems an incorporated standard to be a regulation two months after incorporation.
- CR 16(2), CR 17(2)(a) and CR 18(2)(a) all incorporate standards under section 44, which is why the SANS 10085-1 scaffold inspection regime is enforceable law although it appears nowhere in the text of CR 16.
- Section 44(4) makes incorporation dynamic: the duty follows later amendments or substitutions of the standard unless the incorporating notice says otherwise.
- Section 23 makes PPE an employer cost without exception, and sections 38(1)(n) and 38(1)(o) make tampering with or failing to use provided safety equipment offences.
- PPE selection fails on compatibility more often than absence: fall clearance calculations, respirator face-fit testing, helmet retention in fall risk positions and over-attenuating hearing protection are the recurring traps.
18.2 Incorporated Standards, SANS and Personal Protective Equipment Selection
[!NOTE] SACPCMP Blueprint Context: "Health and Safety Standards" is item 8 of the Construction Health and Safety core knowledge list in Annexure B and a separate heading in the Annexure G candidate logbook. The mechanism by which a voluntary South African National Standard becomes enforceable law — section 44 of the OHS Act — is one of the most commonly misunderstood pieces of the framework.
1. How a Standard Becomes Law: Section 44
Section 44(1) — the Minister may by notice in the Gazette incorporate in the regulations any health and safety standard or part of it, without stating the text, by mere reference to its number, title and year of issue. Section 44(2) — no standard may be incorporated except after consultation with the Advisory Council. Section 44(3) — an incorporated standard is, for the purposes of the Act and in so far as it is not repugnant to a regulation made under section 43, deemed to be a regulation, but not before the expiry of two months from the date of incorporation. Section 44(4) — where the standard is later amended or substituted by the competent authority, the incorporating notice is deemed to refer to the amended or substituted standard, unless it says otherwise. Section 44(5) — the chief inspector keeps a register of particulars of every publication in which an incorporated standard is published.
Three consequences a CHSO must be able to state:
- An incorporated standard has the force of a regulation. Breaching it is not a breach of good practice; it is a statutory contravention.
- The incorporation is dynamic. Section 44(4) means the duty follows the current edition of the standard unless the notice states otherwise — so a contractor working to a superseded edition is not automatically compliant.
- Not every SANS standard is incorporated. The critical professional discipline is knowing which are, and describing the rest accurately as good practice rather than law.
2. Where the Construction Regulations Point to Incorporated Standards
The Construction Regulations 2014 use section 44 by cross-reference rather than by naming standards:
| Provision | What it incorporates |
|---|---|
| CR 16(2) | A contractor using access scaffolding must ensure that the scaffolding, when in use, complies with the safety standards incorporated for this purpose into these Regulations under section 44 of the Act — in practice SANS 10085-1, The design, erection, use and inspection of access scaffolding |
| CR 17(2)(a) | The design, stability and construction of a suspended platform must comply with the safety standards incorporated under section 44 |
| CR 18(2)(a) | The design, selection and use of rope access equipment and anchors must comply with the safety standards incorporated under section 44 |
This is why the seven-day scaffold inspection interval is legally binding even though it appears nowhere in the text of Construction Regulation 16: CR 16(2) incorporates the standard, and section 44(3) deems the standard to be a regulation.
Other regulations point to standards directly. CR 24 requires compliance with the Electrical Installation Regulations, 2009 and the Electrical Machinery Regulations, 1988; the wiring code applied under the Electrical Installation Regulations is SANS 10142-1. CR 22 requires compliance with the Driven Machinery Regulations. CR 25 and CR 29 operate alongside the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987, and CR 30(1) alongside the Facilities Regulations, 2004.
3. Standards a Construction Health and Safety Officer Encounters
| Standard | Subject |
|---|---|
| SANS 10085-1 | Design, erection, use and inspection of access scaffolding |
| SANS 10142-1 | Wiring of premises: low-voltage installations |
| SANS 10400 series | Application of the National Building Regulations, including Part T (fire protection) |
| SANS 1186 series | Symbolic safety signs |
| SANS 1475 / SANS 10105 series | Portable fire extinguishers: manufacture, servicing and use |
| SANS 10089 series | Petroleum products: storage and handling of flammable liquids |
| SANS 10083 / SABS 083 | Measurement and assessment of occupational noise for hearing conservation |
| SANS 50795 / EN 795 | Anchor devices for personal fall protection |
| SANS 10333 series | Personal protective equipment: selection, use and maintenance |
[!IMPORTANT] Cite a standard correctly or not at all. In an examination answer, "SANS 10085-1, incorporated by CR 16(2) under section 44 of the Act" is correct. "Construction Regulation 16 requires a seven-day scaffold inspection" is not, because that interval is in the standard rather than the regulation. Precision here distinguishes a registered professional from a technician.
4. Personal Protective Equipment: Where It Sits and Who Pays
PPE is the last level of the hierarchy of controls, and South African law treats it accordingly.
Section 8(2)(d) requires the employer to establish the hazards and the precautionary measures. CR 10(4)(d) goes further for work at height, prohibiting reliance on fall arrest equipment where it is reasonably practicable to use fall prevention equipment. The professional discipline is that PPE is specified after the higher controls have been exhausted and documented, not instead of them.
Section 23 prohibits an employer from levying or permitting any levy on an employee in respect of anything the employer must provide or do in the interest of the employee's health and safety. PPE is therefore an employer cost without exception, and section 38(4) requires a court convicting an employer under section 23 to determine the amount deducted and deal with it as an underpayment.
Section 14(c) requires employees to carry out lawful orders and obey health and safety rules, and section 38(1)(o) makes it an offence for a person to fail to use safety equipment provided at a workplace, while section 38(1)(n) makes it an offence to tamper with or misuse safety equipment. Enforcement therefore runs in both directions: the employer must provide, and the employee must use.
5. Selecting PPE Properly
Selection is a technical decision, not a catalogue choice. For each hazard the CHSO should be able to state the hazard, the required performance, the standard, and the fit or compatibility constraint.
| Hazard | Selection driver | Compatibility trap |
|---|---|---|
| Head impact and falling objects | Industrial safety helmet with retention system; replace after any impact and per the manufacturer's life | Chin strap essential where a fall risk exists — an unsecured helmet leaves the head at the moment of a fall |
| Falls from height | Full body harness with the correct attachment point; energy-absorbing lanyard sized to available clearance; anchor rated and certified | Fall clearance calculation: lanyard length plus deceleration distance plus the worker's height below the attachment plus a safety margin must be less than the available fall distance, or the worker strikes the ground with the system fully deployed |
| Respirable dust and fume | Filter class matched to the agent; assigned protection factor matched to the exposure | Face-fit testing for each wearer and each model; a facial seal is impossible over beard growth at the seal line |
| Noise at or above the 85 dBA rating limit | Attenuation matched to the exposure, not the highest available | Over-attenuation isolates the worker from reversing alarms and verbal warnings |
| Eye and face | Impact grade for grinding; shade number for welding; chemical splash goggles rather than spectacles for liquids | Prescription spectacles under a face shield; fogging drives non-compliance more than any other factor |
| Hands | Cut level for handling steel and glass; chemical permeation data for the specific substance | Cut-resistant gloves that cannot grip wet steel will be removed |
| Feet | Toe protection, midsole penetration resistance, slip resistance, electrical properties where relevant | Ankle support on uneven civils ground |
| Skin and cement | Barrier and cover for alkaline wet cement | Cement dermatitis and burns are usually a clothing and washing-facility problem before they are a glove problem |
[!WARNING] The most common PPE failure on South African sites is not absence but incompatibility. A worker issued a respirator that cannot seal, a helmet without a chin strap in a fall risk position, gloves that prevent grip, or hearing protection that masks a reversing alarm will defeat the control. Issue records prove issue; the CHSO's field verification proves use, fit and compatibility — and that verification is the control that matters.
A contractor argues that the seven-day scaffold inspection interval is merely industry guidance because it does not appear in the text of Construction Regulation 16. How should a CHSO answer?
A subcontractor deducts the cost of safety boots from workers' wages, describing it as a refundable deposit returned after six months' service. Which provisions are engaged?
Workers are issued energy-absorbing lanyards for use on a 3.5-metre-high steel erection deck, anchored at foot level. What is the principal technical defect?