Can Qualitas be our section 12(1) occupational hygienist?

For surface operations, yes. Christo de Wet can hold the section 12(1) occupational hygiene appointment under the Mine Health and Safety Act for surface operations, and Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene assessments on mines.

Why is chrome ore dust a concern?

Chromite ore dust carries respirable dust and silica, and smelting and welding can produce chromium compounds, including hexavalent chromium, which has a very low exposure limit. Personal air monitoring is the only reliable way to know the exposure.

We are building a new plant in the Tubatse SEZ. What do we need first?

A baseline risk assessment of the process, followed by the noise, chemical and heat surveys it calls for. Doing this during commissioning makes it easier to fix controls before full production.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN BURGERSFORT AND STEELPOORT

Burgersfort and Steelpoort sit on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Complex, one of the world's richest chrome and platinum regions, with ferrochrome smelters, a growing contractor base and the Fetakgomo-Tubatse special economic zone. Qualitas has carried out occupational hygiene assessments in Burgersfort.

We do dust and fume monitoring, noise surveys, heat stress surveys and the other assessments the law requires, on mines and in the workshops and plants around them.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND BURGERSFORT

Burgersfort

Steelpoort

Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ

Driekop and Atok

Ohrigstad

Lydenburg (Mashishing)

Chrome and platinum mines. Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene assessments on mines under the Mine Health and Safety Act (29 of 1996), and can hold the section 12(1) occupational hygiene appointment for surface operations.

Ferrochrome smelters and processing plants: chromium compounds, metal fume, furnace heat and noise.

Mining contractors, engineering and rebuild workshops in Burgersfort and Steelpoort: welding fume, solvents, grinding dust and noise.

New plants in the Fetakgomo-Tubatse SEZ, which need their first baseline risk assessments.

Haulage and plant hire on the R37 and R555: diesel exhaust, noise and whole-body vibration.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Respirable crystalline silica and chrome ore dust, chromium and manganese fume from smelting and welding, diesel exhaust, high noise from crushers and mills, whole-body vibration on haul trucks, and heat in the low-lying Steelpoort valley.

Interior of a large industrial warehouse with overhead cranes

INDUSTRIES WE SERVE

Foundry workers in protective gear pouring molten metal

WHY QUALITAS

Qualitas Occupational Consulting is a Department of Employment and Labour Approved Inspection Authority (AIA) and a SANAS-accredited (ISO/IEC 17020) inspection body for asbestos, lead, noise and hazardous chemical agents, and applies the same quality system to all its assessments.

Every assessment is led by Christo de Wet, an occupational hygienist registered with the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH), with 15 years of experience.

We work nationwide, and Qualitas has also carried out assessments in Botswana and Kazakhstan. Travel is quoted upfront.

You receive a professional, audit-ready report that stands up to inspection by the Department of Employment and Labour.