Laboratory OHSE Representative

About the course

This short course prepares laboratory staff and students to take on the OHSE representative role with confidence. It begins with South Africa’s legal framework, including the Constitution, the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the duties of employers, employees and students, and explains due diligence, acts and omissions, and penalties. Participants learn what a representative does and does not do, how to run inspections, communicate concerns, escalate urgent issues and contribute effectively to OHSE committee meetings. The course then builds practical skills in hazard identification, risk assessment using a simple likelihood and consequence method, the hierarchy of controls, and understanding the immediate and root causes of incidents. It closes with incident management and investigation, from first response to reporting and learning. Practical annexures include regulation summaries, an appointment letter, agenda template, inspection checklist and risk assessment template.

Course Content

1. Legal framework for laboratory safety
2. OHS Act duties: who must do what
3. The OHSE Representative role in laboratories
4. The OHSE Committee
5. Hazard identification
6. Risk assessments
7. Causes of incidents
8. Incident management and investigations
9. The use of an online laboratory inspection checklist & HIRA tool

Certification

Upon successful completion of the course, participants will receive a UCT Faculty of Science Certificate of Completion. To qualify for certification, participants must:

• Attend all scheduled sessions; and
• Achieve a minimum score of 80% in the summative assessment.
• Participants who miss any session or do not achieve the required 80% assessment score will not qualify for certification.

Cost and registration

• External attendees: Enrol directly via The Learning Store.
• UCT permanent staff: Register via SuccessFactors - no cost.
• UCT third-party staff: No cost - request a discount voucher from cemohse@uct.ac.za before enrolling.
• UCT students: Receive a 50% discount - request a discount voucher from cemohse@uct.ac.za before enrolling.
• Group bookings: Groups of 10 or more attendees receive a 25% discount - request a group discount voucher from cemohse@uct.ac.za before enrolling. 

More Information

Read more: Laboratory OHSE Representative
Email: cemohse@uct.ac.za
Phone: +27 (0)21 650 4549