Currently, health and safety practices in the workplace are perceived to be essentially a culture-based issue in business and are usually given little priority in projects, according to multidisciplinary engineering consultancy WSP Africa.

In some businesses, management enforces or implements health and safety practices in order to be legally compliant, while many companies do not place emphasis on ‘employee/human’ safety. As a result, health and safety is seen as a tedious ‘add-on’ component of the business and not integrated into the core-business strategy, says WSP Africa health and safety manager Wayne Oliver.

“Construction Regulation 2003 took many years to implement and now the industry faces a new Construction Regulation 2014 promulgated on February 7 this year to enforce, implement and ensure compliance on projects and sites,” he adds.

Oliver says it remains to be seen if meeting the requirements of the new regulations will take as many years to implement or if senior management will embrace the greater responsibility.

Despite any new legislation, the major challenge that business management is currently faced with is the practical application of health and safety in the workplace, Oliver says.

This could largely be attributed to health and safety not being integrated into business management systems, and not forming part of the business culture, he notes, adding that, “therefore, inadequate resources in terms of finances and manpower are allocated”.

Oliver says that, based on his experience and exposure in the industry, business management, as a whole, has acquired a greater understanding of health and safety, but that the challenges remain the same.

Further, he suggests that, to ensure that health and safety regulations are properly adopted and enforced in all aspects of a company, management needs to accept increased accountability for the application of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the relevant regulations.

Empowering Health and Safety in Construction
The requirement by Construction Regulation 2014, which stipulates that construction professionals must be registered with the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions, will create a platform to improve training requirements for health and safety practitioners and for occupational health and safety standards to be maintained in the industry, Oliver notes.

“The professional registration will also ensure that risks are adequately identified, standards are maintained and that risk management is implemented at projects from start to finish. Registered construction health and safety officers, managers and agents will have greater responsibility in their activities regarding health and safety,” he concludes.