OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY OFFICER

Tower Group South Africa (PTY) Ltd; Durban; On-site; ZAR 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in South Africa is seeking a Safety Officer to ensure a safe and healthy working environment. The role involves developing safety protocols, conducting audits, and implementing health and safety policies to maintain compliance with regulations. Ideal candidates will have relevant qualifications and experience in the manufacturing sector.

Qualifications

• 3 - 5 years’ experience as a Safety Officer, preferably in manufacturing.
• Solid knowledge of OHS Act and safety regulations.
• Ability to facilitate training and communicate at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement safety and health plans and training programs.
• Conduct workplace audits and risk assessments.
• Investigate incidents and ensure compliance with regulations.

Skills

Risk assessments

Incident investigations

Leadership

Communication

Planning and Organisation

Education

Bachelor's degree or Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety

Grade 12 / Matric or NQF level 4

Tools

MS Office Packages

Job description

The purpose of this job is to ensure a safe and healthy working environment and maintaining all levels of compliance with relevant legislations and regulations. This shall be done through hazards identification, conducting risks assessments and implementation of safety procedures to prevent accidents. Promoting safety working culture at work is also a requirement for the incumbent.

KEY SKILLS, KNOWEDGE AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Minimum Grade 12 / Matric; or NQF level 4 (This is a non-negotiable requirement for the position)

A bachelor's degree or Diploma or recognized Certificate (SAMTRAC / NEBOSH / etc.) in Occupational Health and Safety, Environmental Science, or equivalent.

Intermediate computer literacy (MS Office Packages and Outlook).

A driver’s license and own reliable transport is advantageous.

3 - 5 years’ experience as a Safety Officer, preferably in the manufacturing industry.

Solid knowledge of OHS Act, risk assessments and incident investigations.

Highly organized and strong administrative skills.

Ability to facilitate and present training, formal and informal.

Technically minded.

Ability to communicate and build relationships at all levels of the organization.

Structured and meticulous with the ability to follow tasks through to completion.

Strong leadership skills.

Ability to work under pressure and make decisions.

Self-starter who can work unsupervised and manage own time and activities.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Developing and implementing safety and health plans, programs, policies, and procedures.

Conducting workplace audits, safety site inspections and risk assessments.

Investigating accidents and incidents to identify causes and prevent recurrence.

Ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations, legal standards and best practices.

Providing advice and guidance on accident prevention and occupational health.

Organizing safety training programs, educating employees and creating awareness on safety procedures, equipment and relevant regulations.

Implement and enforce safety protocols specific to our operations, including use of personal protective equipment.

Maintain records of all OHS related divisions, including training records, incidents documents, incidents investigations, permits, inspection reports, minutes and certifications.

Ensuring appropriate safety equipment and practices are in place.

Identifying and assessing environmental risks and hazards.

Developing and implementing environmental management plans and procedures.

Ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and standards.

Monitoring environmental performance and reporting on environmental activities.

Stay up to date with the latest health and safety regulations and standards.

Participating in internal and external audits.

Plan and coordinate emergency procedures, including evacuation drills and response protocols.

Reporting on health, safety, and environmental activities to management.

Administration of IODs, including but not limited to, IOD and earnings claims submissions.

Engagement and management of OHS committee as per the relevant legislation.

Liaising with regulatory agencies, i.e. – inspectorate, as and when required.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS

Key performance indicators would be derived from the following areas :

Operations effectiveness and improvement on Occupational Health and Safety Status.

Successful linkage of the Company’s OHS strategy to the role.

Improvement in reduction of time due to IOD incidents.

Improvement in internal and external inspection / audit findings and level of compliance.

Improvement in safety working culture.

BEHAVIOURAL DIMENSIONS REQUIRED

Building Strategic Working Relationships

Seeks opportunities to proactively build effective working relationships with other people. Probes for and provides information to clarify situations.

Seeks and expands on original ideas, enhances others’ ideas, and contributes own ideas about the issues at hand.

Places higher priority on team or organization goals than on own goals.

Gains agreement from colleagues to support ideas or take team-orientated action and uses sound rationale to explain value of actions.

Communication

Clearly conveys information and ideas to colleagues.

Interacts effectively with colleagues and employees to ensure a shared understanding is created.

Ensures that all written information is clear and concise.

Planning and Organisation

Identifies more critical and less critical activities and assignments and adjusts priorities when appropriate.

Determines project / assignment requirements by breaking them down into tasks, identifying deadline dates, developing timelines and milestones to ensure timely completion.

Uses time effectively and prevents distractions from interfering with work completion.

Follow-up

Builds due dates into assignments and task delegations and communicates milestones and expected results.

Schedules effective meetings to review progress and share information; gets feedback on results from those directly involved.

Meets regularly HOD to review the results of scheduled projects and tasks.

Taking initiative

Takes appropriate action when confronted with a problem or when made aware of a situation.

Implements new ideas or potential solutions without prompting.

Takes action that goes beyond job requirements in order to achieve objectives.

Projects

Participate in projects as and when required.

Effective communication and reporting of project progress against timing plans to affected employees.