Is heat stress a serious risk in Phalaborwa?

Yes. Summer temperatures in Phalaborwa are among the highest in South Africa, and hot plants add radiant heat. Heat stress surveys measure the conditions and set work-rest regimes.

Can acid mist and sulphur dioxide be monitored?

Yes. Both are hazardous chemical agents. Personal sampling for acid mist and direct-reading or sampled measurements for sulphur dioxide are compared with the exposure limits.

Our workshop serves the mines. Which law applies?

Your own workshop falls under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Work on the mine itself falls under the Mine Health and Safety Act.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN PHALABORWA

Phalaborwa is built on one of the world's most unusual ore bodies, mined for copper, phosphate and vermiculite, with smelting, chemical processing and a large contractor base in one of South Africa's hottest towns.

Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene surveys for these employers: dust and silica monitoring, acid mist and sulphur dioxide sampling, noise surveys and heat stress surveys.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND PHALABORWA

Phalaborwa

Namakgale

Lulekani

Gravelotte

Tzaneen

Hoedspruit

Copper, phosphate and vermiculite 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.

Smelting and chemical processing: sulphur dioxide, acid mists, metal fume and heat.

Engineering and maintenance contractors in Phalaborwa and Namakgale: welding fume, solvents and noise, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Tourism and agriculture on the edge of the Kruger National Park.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Respirable dust and silica, sulphur dioxide, sulphuric and phosphoric acid mist, metal fume, noise from crushers and mills, and extreme summer heat.

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.