What is the role of a Safety Consultant?

What is the role of a safety consultant? The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act mandates that all firms, organizations, and departments take care of the health and safety of all its workers, from management to lower-level employees, while they are on the job. Not just management or the chief executive officer are accountable for OHS; all employees at the workplace are as well. The issue is that there are legal requirements at work that are difficult to understand and implement unless the company hires a full-time health and safety officer or contracts with a firm that provides safety consulting services.

Why is a consultant necessary for a business?

Without the appropriate theoretical knowledge and hands-on exposure / experience in the Health and Safety sector and environment, it is very difficult for a company to grasp and apply the OHS Act compliance requirements and legislation acts at work, and that is were Zenith Safety Consultants come in. When ensuring OHS compliance at work, various law acts should be considered, including:

• South African National Standards & Building Regulations.
• OHS Act 85 of 1993.
• Municipal Emergency Services By -Laws.

If it is not their primary function, it would take a lot of time for someone working within a company or organization to upgrade their OHS expertise and perform the duties of a safety consultant. Companies need to be informed of new protocols, first aid protocols, government gazette updates to the OHS Act, and system installation. It would be difficult to stay current on all these new advancements and revisions without a safety consultant. The choice a company must make is whether to keep the safety consultant on staff full-time or whether it would be preferable to outsource the company's legal obligations and compliance needs to an outside firm of safety consultants.

What should a safety consultant accomplish?

A team must be prepared to shape and evolve the Occupational Health and Safety structure and system over time to meet their environment, structural layout, and work needs to successfully adopt and operate an Occupational Health and Safety system, which is frequently extremely difficult. Zenith Safety Consultants specializes in putting in place effective OHS systems that are adapted to the structure and requirements of the business. Zenith Safety Consultants provides a special service that include sending a safety consultant to the client's location to help with Occupational Health and Safety management and training. Among the crucial Occupational Health and Safety goals the safety consultant must accomplish are the following:

1. Create the Occupational Health and Safety Policy, the Evacuation Policy, and the Emergency Medical Policy, and help the company's employees understand the relevant legislation acts at work sections and content by assisting in the communication of that information. This will ensure that Occupational Health and Safety and Emergency Procedures are communicated appropriately and effectively.
2. Help create an active Occupational Health and Safety Committee that promotes and advances Occupational Health and Safety. Attendance at the Occupational Health and Safety committee meetings, which are held at least once every three months, with the safety consultant providing the Occupational Health and Safety chairman with guidance, suggestions on how to produce the proper correspondence,
3. Help with the creation of the Occupational Health and Safety structure, organogram, and new appointment letters to ensure that all organization offices have representation from the appropriate Occupational Health and Safety disciplines (Occupational Health and Safety Supervisors and Representatives, First Aiders, Fire Wardens, and Evacuation Marshals);
4. Once all training and equipment supply is finished, help with the planning and evaluation of emergency evacuation drills. This will be a controlled approach to try and accomplish the goal and expected result.