Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993)RegulationsAsbestos Regulations, 200117. Personal protective equipment and facilities |
| (1) | An employer or self-employed person shall provide— |
| (a) | all persons exposed to asbestos at the workplace with suitable protective clothing; and |
| (b) | a person with suitable respiratory protective equipment to ensure that the person's exposure is adequately controlled as contemplated in regulation 11(1). |
| (2) | Where respiratory protective equipment is provided, the employer or self-employed person shall ensure that— |
| (a) | the relevant equipment is capable of keeping the exposure level at or below the OEL for asbestos; |
| (b) | the relevant equipment is correctly and properly used; |
| (c) | information, instruction, training and supervision that are necessary with regard to the use of the equipment are provided to the persons; and |
| (d) | the equipment is kept in good condition and efficient working order. |
| (3) | An employer or self-employed person shall, as far as is reasonably practicable— |
| (a) | issue no personal protective equipment to a person, unless such equipment is cleaned, decontaminated and, where appropriate, sterilised; |
| (b) | provide separate containers or storage facilities for personal protective equipment when not in use; and |
| (c) | ensure that all personal protective equipment not in use is stored only in the place provided. |
| (4) | An employer or self-employed person shall, as far as is reasonably practicable, ensure that all personal protective equipment contaminated with asbestos dust is cleaned and handled in accordance with the following procedures – |
| (a) | Where the equipment is cleaned on the premises of the employer or self-employed person, care shall be taken to prevent contamination during handling, transport and cleaning; |
| (b) | Where the equipment is sent off the premises to a contractor for cleaning purposes— |
| (i) | the equipment shall be packed in impermeable containers; |
| (ii) | the container shall be tightly sealed and clearly, labeled in the form of Annexure 1; and |
| (iii) | the relevant contractor shall be informed of these Regulations and the precautions to be taken for the handling of the asbestos contaminated equipment; and |
| (c) | water that is used for decontamination or cleaning of equipment shall be filtered in accordance with regulation 13(2)(b) before being released into any water system. |
| (5) | Subject to subregulation (4)(b), an employer or self-employed person shall ensure that no person removes dirty or contaminated personal protective equipment from the workplace: Provided that where personal protective equipment contaminated with asbestos dust has to be disposed of, it shall be treated as asbestos waste as contemplated in regulation 20. |
| (6) | Subject to the provisions of the Facilities Regulations published by Government notice R. 1593 of 12 August 1988, the employer shall, where reasonably practical, provide employees who use personal protective equipment as contemplated in subregulation (1), with— |
| (a) | adequate washing facilities which are readily accessible and located in an area where the facilities will not become contaminated, in order to enable the employees to meet a standard of personal hygiene consistent with the adequate control of exposure, and to avoid the spread of asbestos dust; |
| (b) | two separate lockers labeled "protective clothing" and "personal clothing" respectively, and shall ensure that the clothing is kept separately in the lockers concerned; and |
| (c) | separate change rooms labeled "clean change room" and "dirty change room", with suitable barrier and bathing facilities between to prevent the contamination of personal clothes with asbestos dust. |