5. Evaluate Employees and Medical Fitness Declaration

There are specific requirements relating to the management of the risk of falls for construction work. Many activities undertaken in workplaces can be considered construction work e.g. repairs and maintenance to structures such as roof gutters.

To comply with your duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and you will be trained on the safety rules to follow when working with ladders and scaffolding.

Working at Heights Training for Performing Work at Heights

• Employees will have the skills and experience as well as knowledge necessary to set up and select working at heights equipment for safe use and operation.
• The necessary skills to identify risks pertaining to working at heights in the workplace.
• The necessary skills to eliminate the risk of severe injuries.
• The necessary skills to eliminate the risk of fatal working at heights injuries.
• Employees receiving working at heights training will be competent to do the task at hand in a safe manner.
• Individuals will be able to plan and organise working at heights work effectively.
• Individuals will be able to perform a risk assessment for any working at heights planned.
• Individuals will be able to select the appropriate work equipment to complete the task safely.
• Individuals will be able to properly inspect and maintain all working at heights equipment that is being used.
• Individuals will demonstrate to others that they are taking the necessary steps to meet the requirements in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993.

Construction Regulations and The Medical Certificate of Fitness

The promulgation of the amended Construction Regulations in 2014 introduced the need to issue construction workers with medical certificates of fitness (MCoFs) based on the jobs in which they were employed. Regulation 7(8) of the Construction Regulations states: “A contractor must ensure that all his or her employees have a valid medical certificate of fitness specific to the construction work to be performed and issued by an occupational health practitioner. The intention of Annexure 3 is to ensure that a worker is certified as medically fit, based on the understanding of the tasks he or she is required to perform relevant to the job requirements, and the exposures he or she might encounter in the workplace, and the personal protective equipment required.

If the intention of the legislator is embraced, then medical surveillance activities would be job-specific, moving away from the broad-brush approach where anything and everything is included in the medical examination. This is of benefit to both the worker (ensuring that the correct aspects of his or her health are monitored) and the employer (providing cost-effective medical examinations with the assurance that the correct testing is implemented to monitor workers’ health).

Click here to view or download Annexure 3: The Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act No. 85 of 1993)

For a doctor or nurse to be recognised as an OHP, the following criteria must be met:

1. A doctor should be registered and in good standing with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), have a tertiary qualification in occupational health/medicine registered as an additional qualification with the HPCSA, or be registered as a specialist in Occupational Medicine with the HPCSA.
2. A nurse should be registered and in good standing with the South African Nursing Council (SANC), and have a tertiary qualification in Occupational Health Nursing approved by and registered with the SANC.
3. This updated guideline addressed the issue of who could conduct the medical assessment for the purpose of ­completing Annexure 3.
4. The health and safety of employees and any affected persons must be promoted, and no prejudice may be practised against employees and any affected persons.
5. Employers only accepted an MCoF in the format of the published Annexure 3, rejecting other amended formats submitted by occupational health practitioners (OHPs), which were developed to accommodate the need to record if an employee was deemed unfit or fit for work, but with restrictions.