The Minister of Employment and Labour issued Notice No. R.4598, which was published in Government Gazette No. 50431 on Friday, 05 April 2024. The notice invites interested and affected parties to submit public comments/written representations on the Draft Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents ("the Draft HCA Regulations").
The Draft HCA Regulations aim to repeal the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, 2021 published under Government Notice No. R.11263 of 29 April 2021, and Occupational Exposure for Silica in Table 1 of the Hazardous Chemical Agents Regulation, published under Government Notice No. 32930 of 5 February 2012, 18 months after the date of promulgation (such date will only be determined in future).
The Draft HCA Regulations provides for, amongst others, the following:
- The classification of Hazardous Chemical Agents by the manufacturer or importer of a chemical agent, before it is supplied to a workplace and the carrying out of a hazard assessment by a competent person;
- The requirement to keep an inventory of Hazardous Chemical Agents;
- The carrying out of a documented Hazardous Chemical Agent Risk Assessment by a competent person immediately where a Hazardous Chemical Agent is present in the workplace;
- The prevention or control of exposure to Hazardous Chemical Agents;
- Exposure monitoring of Hazardous Chemical Agents; and
- The establishment, by the Advisory Council, of a Hazardous Chemical Agent Technical Committee to, amongst others, advise, make recommendations, submit reports in terms of Hazardous Chemical Agent related matters, to the Advisory Council and perform any other function for the administration of a provision of the Draft HCA Regulations.
Interested and affected parties must mark such representations for the attention of E Lourens, the Director-General of the Department of Employment and Labour within 90 (ninety) days, being on or before Thursday, 04 July 2024 to one of the following addresses:
- email: DraftComments.OHH@labour.gov.za
- hand-deliver: Laboria House, 215 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria, CBD
- post: Private Bag X117, Pretoria 0001
Click here to view a copy of the notice and the Draft HCA Regulations.
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