Is heat stress a concern indoors in Durban?

Yes. In humid conditions the body cannot cool itself by sweating, so a factory or warehouse can create heat stress at air temperatures that feel moderate. The Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 require heat to be assessed where it may affect employees.

We store and decant chemicals near the port. What monitoring applies?

The Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, 2021 require a risk assessment for every hazardous chemical agent, and monitoring by an approved inspection authority where exposure may exceed limits. Qualitas is a DEL AIA for hazardous chemical agents.

Do cold rooms in a food plant need assessing?

Yes. Cold is a physical agent under the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024, so chillers and freezers need a cold stress assessment, and ammonia refrigeration plants need a chemical risk assessment too.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN DURBAN AND PINETOWN

Durban runs Africa's busiest container port and one of South Africa's largest manufacturing bases, from the South Durban Basin to Pinetown, New Germany and Hammarsdale. Qualitas has carried out occupational hygiene assessments in Durban.

We do noise surveys, hazardous chemical agent monitoring, heat stress surveys in Durban's humid summers, LEV tests and asbestos inventories for employers across eThekwini.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND DURBAN

Durban CBD and the port

Prospecton, Jacobs and Mobeni

Pinetown, New Germany and Westmead

Hammarsdale and Cato Ridge

Umhlanga and Cornubia

Amanzimtoti and Umbogintwini

Automotive and component manufacturing in Prospecton, Jacobs and Mobeni: paint shops, welding, presses and the LEV that serves them.

Chemical storage, blending and packaging in the South Durban Basin and Island View: solvent and acid vapours, and spill and tank-cleaning exposures.

Port, container depots and freight logistics: diesel exhaust, noise, whole-body vibration on straddle carriers and trucks, and manual handling.

Manufacturing in Pinetown, New Germany and Westmead: plastics, packaging, textiles and metal products.

Food, beverage, sugar and poultry processing from Durban to Hammarsdale: noise, cold rooms, ammonia refrigeration, cleaning chemicals and biological agents.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Heat and humidity, which make heat stress a real risk indoors as well as outdoors in a Durban summer; solvent and chemical vapours; welding fume; noise from presses, compressors and packaging lines; diesel exhaust in warehouses and depots; and asbestos in older factory roofs.

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.