Is heat stress a concern for contractors in Lephalale?

Yes. Summer temperatures in the Waterberg regularly pass 35 °C, and boiler areas and enclosed plant add radiant heat. The Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 require heat to be assessed where it may affect employees.

Is fly ash a hazardous chemical agent?

Yes. Fly ash is a fine respirable dust that can contain crystalline silica and metals. Ash handling, silo work and maintenance need a chemical risk assessment and dust monitoring.

We are a construction contractor at a power station. Must we do our own assessments?

Yes. Each employer must assess its own employees' exposure to noise, dust, fume and heat. The host site's surveys do not cover a contractor's workforce.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN LEPHALALE

Lephalale sits on the Waterberg coalfield, one of South Africa's largest remaining coal resources, with large opencast coal mining, two of the country's biggest coal-fired power stations and a contractor workforce that grows with every new project.

Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene surveys for these employers: coal and silica dust monitoring, noise surveys, heat stress surveys and fly ash and chemical assessments.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND LEPHALALE

Lephalale (Ellisras)

Onverwacht

Marapong

Steenbokpan

Vaalwater

Thabazimbi

Opencast coal mining. 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, ash handling and construction contractors: coal and fly ash dust, noise, heat and confined spaces.

Engineering, fabrication and plant-hire firms in Onverwacht and Marapong: welding fume, solvents, noise and vibration, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Game farming, hunting and agriculture in the Waterberg.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Coal dust and respirable silica, fly ash, diesel exhaust, noise from crushers, mills and mobile plant, whole-body vibration on haul trucks, and some of the highest summer temperatures in Limpopo.

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.