Which contaminants matter most in an aluminium smelter?

Fluorides, coal tar pitch volatiles, alumina and other dusts, and heat in the potrooms and carbon plant. All except heat are hazardous chemical agents, monitored under the Regulations for Hazardous Chemical Agents, 2021 by an approved inspection authority.

Can acid mist be measured?

Yes. Sulphuric and phosphoric acid mists are sampled on personal samplers and analysed by an accredited laboratory, and the results are compared with the occupational exposure limits.

We are a contractor in the Richards Bay IDZ. Must we do our own assessments?

Yes. Every employer must assess its own employees' exposure, wherever they work. The host plant's surveys do not cover a contractor's workforce.

OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE IN RICHARDS BAY AND EMPANGENI

Richards Bay is KwaZulu-Natal's heavy-industry port: aluminium smelting, heavy mineral sands, the coal terminal, pulp and paper, fertiliser and chemicals, and an industrial development zone that keeps adding plants.

Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene surveys for these employers and their contractors: dust and fume monitoring, acid mist sampling, noise surveys, heat stress surveys and LEV tests.

REACH OUT

Worker cutting steel with an angle grinder as sparks fly

WHERE WE WORK AROUND RICHARDS BAY

Richards Bay and Alton

Richards Bay IDZ

Empangeni

Esikhawini

Mtunzini

Eshowe

Aluminium smelting and its contractors: fluorides, coal tar pitch volatiles and alumina dust in potlines, heat, and noise.

Heavy mineral sands mining and smelting, and the zircon, rutile and slag that leave by sea. Work on a mining right falls under the Mine Health and Safety Act (29 of 1996); Qualitas carries out occupational hygiene assessments on mines and can hold the section 12(1) appointment for surface operations.

Bulk ports and terminals: coal and mineral dust, noise, and vibration on mobile plant.

Pulp and paper: noise, wood dust, sulphur compounds, chlorine dioxide and heat.

Fertiliser and chemical plants: sulphuric and phosphoric acid mist, fluorides and ammonia.

Engineering contractors in Alton and the Richards Bay IDZ.

THE HAZARDS WE MEASURE HERE

Fluorides, coal tar pitch volatiles, acid mists, coal and mineral dust, respirable crystalline silica, high noise in mills and potrooms, and heat and humidity on the Zululand coast.

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.