Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993)RegulationsMajor Hazard Installation Regulations, 19935. Risk assessment |
| (1) | An employer, self employed person and user shall, after consultation with the relevant health and safety representative or relevant health and safety committee, carry out a risk assessment at intervals not exceeding five years and submit such risk assessment to the chief inspector, relevant local government and provincial director. |
| (2) | The risk assessment is the process of collecting, organising, analyzing, interpreting, communicating and implementing information in order to identify the probable frequency, magnitude and nature of any major incident which could occur at a major hazard installation, and the measures required to remove, reduce or control the potential causes of such an incident. |
| (3) | An employer, self employed person and user shall inform the relevant health and safety representative or relevant health and safety committee in writing of the arrangements made for the assessment contemplated in subregulation (1), give them 60 days within which to comment thereon and ensure that the results of the assessment are made available to the relevant representative or committee who may comment thereon. |
| (4) | An employer, self employed person and user shall make available on the premises a copy of the latest risk assessment for inspection by an inspector. |
| (5) | An employer, self employed person and user shall ensure that the risk assessment contemplated in subregulation (1), shall— |
| (a) | be carried out by an Approved Inspection Authority which is competent to express an opinion as to the risks associated with the major hazard installation; and |
| (b) | at least include - |
| (i) | a general process description of the major hazard installation; |
| (ii) | a description of the major incidents associated with that type of installation and the consequences of such incidents, which shall include potential incidents; |
| (iii) | an estimation of the probability of a major incident; |
| (iv) | a copy of the site emergency plan; |
| (v) | an estimation of the total result in the case of an explosion or fire; |
| (vi) | in the case of toxic release, an estimation of concentration effects of such release; |
| (vii) | the potential effect of an incident on a major hazard installation or part thereof on an adjacent major hazard installation or part thereof; |
| (viii) | the potential effect of a major incident on any other installation, members of the public and residential areas; |
| (ix) | meteorological tendencies; |
| (x) | the suitability of existing emergency procedures for the risks identified; |
| (xi) | any requirements laid down in terms of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (Act No. 73 of 1989); and |
| (xii) | any organisational measures that may be required. |
| (6) |
| (a) | An employer, self employed person and user shall ensure that the risk assessment required in terms of subregulation (1) is reviewed forthwith if - |
| (i) | there is reason to suspect that the preceding assessment is no longer valid; |
| (ii) | there has been a change in the process involving a substance resulting in the installation being classified a major hazard installation or in the methods, equipment or procedures in the use, handling or processing of that substance; or |
| (iii) | after an incident that has brought the emergency plan into operation or after any near miss. |
| (b) | Where the risk assessment has been updated an employer, self employed person and user shall submit a copy of the updated risk assessment to the chief inspector, the relevant local government and the provincial director within 60 days. |
| (7) | Subregulation (5)(b) shall not apply in the case of rolling stock in transit: Provided that the operator of a railway shall ensure - |
| (a) | that a risk assessment applicable to rolling stock in transit is carried out and made available for inspection at the request of an inspector or local government or both that local government and inspector, as the case may be; and |
| (b) | that in the interests of the health and safety of the public the necessary precautions are taken. |
| (8) | An employer, self employed person and user shall ensure that the risk assessments contemplated in subregulations (1) and (5)(a) be made available for scrutiny by any interested person or any person that may be affected by the activities of a major hazard installation, at a time and place and in a manner agreed upon between the parties. |