When are you required to have a HSE File on Site?

Every contractor and sub-contractor is required by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 and the Construction Regulations of 2014, to always have an Occupational Health and Safety file available and updated on site. The following extracts from the OHSAct and Construction Regulations shows the Legal Requirement by all Clients, Principle Contractors and Sub-Contractors:

• Construction Regulation 3(6)–A client must ensure that the principle contractor keeps a copy of the construction work permit contemplated in sub regulation (1) in the occupational health and safety file for inspection by an inspector, the client, the client’s authorized agent, or an employee;


• Construction Regulation 5(1)(s) The client must ensure that health and safety file contemplated in regulation 7(1)(b) is kept and maintained by the principle contractor;


• Construction Regulation 7(1)(b) – A principle contractor must open and keep on site a health and safety file which must include all documentation required in terms of the Act and these Regulations, which must be made available on request to an inspector, the client, the client’s agent or a contractor.

It is the responsibility of each contractor to ensure that their files complies to the requirement of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, any applicable regulations and legislation to the contractors' scope of work, as well as the Clients' HSE Specification.

How we seamlessly integrate this process into your organisation and operations.

At CMK Safety Solutions, we consistently ensure that our Clients have Occupational Health and Safety files which are in line with the requirements of applicable Legsilation and in accordance to the Client HSE Specification.

These files are carefully constructed to ensure that it is easily audited by the Client or Safety Agent and easily communicated to the workforce.

As part of our service, we ensure that the file is approved by the Client on the first audit and that the file is properly communicated to all employees of the contractor. This ensures that there are no delays to the start of a project. All requirements are also communicated to relevant employees e.g. HSE Representative Inspections and Weekly HSE Checklists that need to be done.
The HSE File composes of several documents. Some are site specific and some form the core documents of the HSE File. These documents include:

• Contract Appointment Letter and 37(2) Agreement