For contractors working on mines
Mining safety file
Mines do not fall under the OHS Act — and that changes what your file has to be.
Generate your safety file — R500What the law requires
Mines are the exception on this list. Health and safety on a South African mine is governed by the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996, not the OHS Act 85 of 1993, and what a mine requires from a contractor is set by the mine's own system and mandatory codes of practice — which differ between operations.
Why a mining file is different
This is the one entry on this list where the governing law is different. Mines in South Africa fall under the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996, administered by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR, the former DMRE), not under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993. A contractor arriving at a mine with a standard construction safety file is bringing the wrong instrument.
What to get right in a mining safety file
These are the hazards that should be reflected properly in the risk assessments and method statements — the parts of the file that are easiest to leave generic and hardest to defend when they are.
A different Act, a different regulator
The Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 governs health and safety at mines, and the OHS Act expressly does not apply where the MHSA does. Duties, appointments and reporting run to the mine's structures and to the DMPR rather than to the Department of Employment and Labour.
Working under the mine's system
The employer at a mine carries duties toward contractors' employees working there, and mines run mandatory codes of practice, their own inductions and their own permits. Your documentation has to be capable of being accepted into that system rather than standing alone.
Medical surveillance and entry requirements
Mines commonly require a valid certificate of fitness, red ticket or equivalent before anyone goes underground or onto the operation. These are individual, dated and refused at the gate when absent — a frequent reason a contractor's crew is turned away.
Also governed by: Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996
Mines fall under the MHSA and the DMPR, not the OHS Act 85 of 1993 and the Department of Employment and Labour. This is a different legal regime, not a variation of the construction one.
Documents a mining scope typically triggers
On top of the core compliance pack every construction file carries, contractors working on mines should expect to need these. The exact set depends on your scope.
- —Mine-specific induction and access records
- —Certificates of fitness for every person entering
- —Alignment with the mine's mandatory codes of practice
- —Contractor management pack as required by the mine
- —Task-based risk assessments in the mine's format
- —Appointments recognised under the mine's structure
These are set and issued under the mine's own system. Where a mine accepts OHSA-format documentation in its contractor pack, MySafetyFile documents can support that pack.
Can I use a construction safety file on a mine?
Not on its own. A construction safety file is built for the OHS Act 85 of 1993 and the Construction Regulations 2014, and mines are governed by the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 instead. If you are doing construction work on mine property, speak to the mine's health and safety department about what they will accept before you generate anything — requirements vary between operations, and arriving with the wrong file costs you the shift.
More background: what a construction safety file is and what a compliant template must contain.
Get your mining safety file in 8 minutes
MySafetyFile generates construction safety files built for the OHS Act 85 of 1993 and the Construction Regulations 2014. Before generating one for work on a mine, confirm with the mine's health and safety department what documentation they will accept — many operations require their own formats, while some accept OHSA-format documentation as part of a contractor pack.