Can Qualitas do occupational hygiene work on a coal mine?

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

Our contractors work inside a power station. Who arranges their noise survey?

Each contractor, as the employer, is responsible for assessing its own employees' exposure. The station's noise zones help, but they do not replace the contractor's own risk assessment.

Older plant here still has insulation that may contain asbestos. What must we do?

Have it identified and recorded in an asbestos inventory by an asbestos AIA, and make sure maintenance work does not disturb it without a plan of work. Qualitas is a DEL AIA for asbestos.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN EMALAHLENI AND MIDDELBURG

eMalahleni and Middelburg sit on the coalfields of the Mpumalanga Highveld, ringed by coal mines, coal-fired power stations, ferrochrome and steel smelters, and the engineering firms that keep them running.

Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene surveys for these employers: coal and silica dust monitoring, noise surveys, metal fume monitoring, heat stress surveys and asbestos inventories.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND EMALAHLENI

eMalahleni (Witbank) and Ferrobank

Middelburg

Kriel

Ogies

Hendrina

Delmas

Coal 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.

Coal-fired power stations and their maintenance contractors: coal and fly ash dust, noise from turbines and mills, heat, and asbestos in older insulation.

Ferrochrome, stainless steel and vanadium smelters: metal fume including chromium compounds, furnace heat and noise.

Engineering, boilermaking and fabrication shops in Ferrobank, Middelburg and Pine Ridge, which fall under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (85 of 1993).

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Coal dust and respirable crystalline silica, fly ash, chromium and manganese fume from smelting and welding, radiant heat, high noise from mills, fans and turbines, and asbestos in pre-2008 plant lagging.

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.