Occupational health

Policies: Health and safety policy

The University of Cape Town is dedicated to maintain a Safe and Health Environment for all its staff, students, visitors and contactors on all its campuses by putting measures in place to mitigate all the identified risks in the teaching and research environment.

The University of Cape Town subscribes to a Safety, Health and Environment management standard based on the OHSAS18001 Occupational Health and Safety standard. The University of Cape Town will as is reasonably practical strive to comply with all the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act No 85 of 1993 and any other Safety, Health and Environmental legislation that is applicable to its environment.

The established Safety, Health and Environment structures at the University of Cape Town is committed to promoting and communicating best Safety, Health and Environment practices to all its staff and students, contractors and interested parties through its various Safety, Health and Environment structures. It also commits to implement the Safety, Health and Environment practices in all its teaching, research environments. Identify, eliminate or control any unsafe act or condition by making everybody aware of their individual responsibility in practicing Safety, Health and Environment principles to minimise risks.

The Management of the University of Cape Town commits itself to measure its Safety, Health and Environment practices annually against set objectives and to rectify and control any deviations identified in a set period and will continually strive for improvement.

Objectives:

• Keep the University of Cape Town community informed of all legislation affecting the university environment.
• Asses, the identified risks on a regular basis.
• Formulate policies and procedures for the management of identified risks.
• Formulate standards based on the policies and procedures.
• Put document control procedures in place to facilitate auditing processes.
• Minimise the risk of injury or illness to all our staff and students by making sure that they receive appropriate training and that they are supplied with the necessary resources.
• Make sure that emergency measures and procedures are in place for all our buildings to manage any potential emergency.
• Empower the managers of contractors to eliminate the risks that are brought onto our campuses by them.
• Make sure that Safety, Health and Environment legislation aspects are taken into consideration on any new research and building projects.

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