Health, safety and compliance comes with its own alphabet soup of acronyms and terms. Here's what the ones you'll run into most often actually mean, in plain English.
- OHS Act (Occupational Health and Safety Act)
- South Africa's core workplace safety legislation. It places the primary responsibility for a safe working environment on the employer, covering everything from risk assessments to legal appointments to incident reporting.
- COID (Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases)
- The system, run by the Compensation Fund, that compensates employees injured or made ill by their work. Employers register and pay annual assessments based on payroll and industry risk.
- Letter of Good Standing
- A document confirming your COID registration and assessments are current. Often requested by clients and tender committees as proof you're a compliant, registered employer.
- Section 24
- The part of the OHS Act dealing with reporting workplace incidents — certain injuries, illnesses and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the Department of Employment and Labour.
- PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
- Equipment provided to protect employees from workplace hazards — safety boots, hard hats, respirators, gloves and similar. Employers must provide appropriate PPE and keep records of what was issued and when.
- Legal appointment
- A formally designated safety role under the OHS Act — such as a health and safety representative, first aider, or fire warden — appointed in writing to a specific, named person.
- LTIFR (Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate)
- A commonly used safety performance metric, measuring how often injuries resulting in lost work time occur relative to hours worked. Used to track a workplace's safety trend over time.
- ISO 45001
- An international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. Businesses can be certified against it to demonstrate a structured, internationally recognised approach to workplace safety.
- Department of Employment and Labour (DEL)
- The South African government department responsible for administering and enforcing the OHS Act and COID, including inspections and incident investigations.
- Prohibition notice
- A notice an inspector can issue to stop work in an area, or on an entire site, where conditions pose an immediate danger — work may not resume until the notice is lifted.
- Risk assessment
- A documented process of identifying workplace hazards and evaluating the risk they pose, forming the basis for the controls a business puts in place to manage them.
- Audit-ready
- Shorthand for being able to produce current proof of compliance — valid certificates, appointments, PPE records and registrations — at any time, without a scramble to reconstruct it.
These definitions are general information for South African employers and aren't legal advice. For guidance specific to your business, consult the Department of Employment and Labour or a qualified HSE professional.