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6
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
APRIL
2015
The purposes of registration are
focused on control and regulation
and sets out:
• To establish a comprehensive
mechanism for the evaluation and
assessment of applicants;
• Draw up a Code of Conduct to regulate
the behaviour of registered construction
Health and Safety agents;
• Maintain a national register of such
accredited agents;
• Provide Continuing Professional
Development (CPD) in construction
Health and Safety; and
• Measure and monitor the impact
of Health and Safety in the
construction industry.
A registered construction Health and Safety
agent would be a person with at least five
years’ experience in the construction sector
who has been assessed by the SACPCMP
Council as competent to provide HSE
services in accordance with the Occupa-
tional Health and Safety Act and applicable
construction regulations.
Michell explains: “The benefits of regis-
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tration are many and include the fact that
clients would be able to select competent
agents and have recourse if the agent proves
incompetent. There will also be means of
disciplining non-compliant professionals,
and clients will have the assurance that their
building work will be done to the best prac-
tices with the professionals’ own reputation
at stake in any given project.
“However, the number of applications
for registration are not looking promising
at the moment. In fact, if the construction
industry is to have sufficient numbers of
registered H&S practitioners by the date set
for enforcement – August 2015 – there would
have to be a major and dramatic upsurge
in interest. The SA Council for Project and
Construction Management Professionals
(SACPCMP) has estimated that South Africa
would need about 3 500 registered H&S prac-
titioners by July 2015 – and we are nowhere
near that total at present.
“In July 2014, as many as 63% of the
application packs that had been received
were incomplete, or had documentation
outstanding, or had unpaid registration fees
– often a combination of both. This brings
the registration process to a complete stand-
still: an application cannot ‘partially’ be
processed,” Michell explained.
“Another factor that had disrupted
the registration progress was that some
potential applicants had hoped that ‘exemp-
tion notices’ published by the Depart-
ment of Labour would not merely repre-
sent a ‘roll-out period of grace’ the Depart-
ment had intended, but signified that the
entire registration exercise would probably
just be scrapped.”
Michell said that to ensure that as
many of the 3 500 registrations have been
completed – or are at least in progress –
SACPCMP had, in consultation with the
Department of Labour, drafted an imple-
mentation plan to assist applicants.
Elements of the implementation plan
include:
• Increasing the pool of competent
assessors to expedite the registration
process for all categories in a
professional manner;
• Increasing the number of competent
examination invigilators/markers;
• Staging ‘Routes to registration’
workshops nationally with particular
focus on the CHSO category;
• Targeting clients/developers to provide
information-sharing workshops to
promote the objectives of the CHS
registration process; and
• Identifying suitable venues so that
examination and interviews can
be decentralised.
“There is no doubt that registration will
raise the profile of the H&S profession, boost
interest in it and attract better practitioners.
Continuing Professional Development will
ensure that professionals are kept up to
date with the latest information pertaining
to their scope of responsibilities. We can but
hope that the registration process would
have reached the required level by August
this year,” he added.
NEED TO
ACCELERATE
The formal registration of
Construction Health and Safety
practitioners is being delayed
by apathy, incorrect methods of
application and non-payment,
Doug Michell, Master Builders
Association (MBA) North
Construction Health & Safety
Manager, has cautioned.
ABOVE:
If the construction industry is to have sufficient numbers of registered H&S practitioners by
August 2015, there would have to be a major upsurge in registrations.
INSET:
Doug Michell, MBA North Construction Health & Safety manager.