OHS Legal Register South Africa: Applicable Laws, Regulations, Duties & Free Employer Template

Quick Answer

An OHS legal register South Africa system helps an employer identify which occupational health and safety legislation and regulations actually apply to its workplace, translate those requirements into practical duties, assign responsibility and record evidence showing how each requirement is being managed.

The legal register should not simply be a long list of every regulation ever published under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It should answer a more useful question:

Which requirements apply to this workplace, why do they apply, who owns them, what must be done, and what evidence proves it?

South Africa's OHS framework includes the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 together with numerous regulations covering different hazards, activities, equipment and workplace conditions. Recent regulatory changes—including new Noise Exposure and Physical Agents Regulations—make version and change control particularly important in 2026. South African Government

OHS Legal Register South Africa at a Glance

Management Question	Legal Register Output
What work do we actually perform?	Defined workplace and operational scope
Which hazards and activities exist?	Applicability triggers
Which Acts and regulations apply?	Controlled legal-instrument list
Which specific duties apply?	Clause/regulation-level obligations
Who is responsible?	Named owner or accountable function
What control should exist?	Required action or management control
What proves implementation?	Evidence / record reference
Are we meeting the requirement?	Compliance status
What is missing?	Corrective action
Has the law changed?	Legal-change and revision record

A legal register should therefore function as a decision and control system, not a legislative bookshelf.

What Is an OHS Legal Register?

An OHS legal register is a structured record of the occupational health and safety legislation, regulations and other applicable requirements relevant to an organisation's activities.

A useful register goes much further than:

“OHS Act 85 of 1993 — Applicable.”

That tells management almost nothing.

A stronger entry identifies:

LEGAL SOURCE → APPLICABILITY TRIGGER → DUTY → RESPONSIBLE PERSON → CONTROL → EVIDENCE → STATUS → ACTION → REVIEW

For example, a manufacturing workplace may use machinery, welding processes, pressure equipment, hazardous chemicals and noisy equipment.

An office-based employer may have none of those same industrial exposures.

The two employers operate under the same broad national OHS framework, but they should not automatically have identical legal registers.

A Legal Register Is Not Just a List of Laws

Compare these two entries.

Weak:

Driven Machinery Regulations — applicable.

Strong:

Which machinery or lifting activity creates the trigger? Which regulation applies? What examination, inspection, competence, guarding or control requirement follows? Who owns it? Where is the evidence? Is it current?

The second version can drive action.

The first is simply a title.

Does Every South African Employer Legally Need an OHS Legal Register?

Employers must comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the regulations applicable to their workplaces.

That should not be confused with the idea that the OHS Act gives every employer one universal statutory document called an “OHS Legal Register” with a prescribed national template.

The legislation creates duties.

A legal register is a practical management mechanism for identifying, organising and monitoring those duties.

It may also become specifically required through:

• a client health-and-safety specification;

• a tender condition;

• a contractor-management system;

• an internal governance system;

• an audit framework;

• a management-system requirement.

Government procurement and major-client specifications frequently require contractors to compile or maintain legal registers, demonstrating why employers must distinguish statutory requirements from contractual requirements rather than casually calling everything “the law.” eTenders Portal

The correct question is therefore not simply:

“Is a legal register mandatory?”

It is:

“What legal duties apply to this organisation, and what system are we using to make sure none of them are missed?”

Why an OHS Legal Register Matters More in 2026

South African OHS legislation does not remain frozen.

A register built several years ago can contain:

• repealed regulations;

• superseded terminology;

• outdated exposure requirements;

• obsolete review dates;

• draft regulations presented as final law;

• current regulations that were never added;

• old client requirements that no longer apply.

That is dangerous because a register can look controlled while being legally stale.

Important 2025–2026 OHS Changes

Several recent developments demonstrate why employers need change control.

Regulatory Development	Legal-Register Impact
Noise Exposure Regulations, 2025	New regulation set published in March 2025 and brought into effect from 5 September 2026; employers with applicable noise exposures should review older NIHL-era entries.
Physical Agents Regulations, 2025	Introduced a modern framework dealing with physical-agent exposures; Department communications confirmed commencement from 5 September 2026.
Physical Agents amendments, February 2026	Employers using the new Physical Agents Regulations should ensure their controlled legal source includes subsequent amendments.
General Safety Regulations amendment, 2025	General-safety legal-register entries should be checked against the amended text rather than old templates.
General Safety and Environment for Workplaces amendment, December 2025	Another reason to verify current Gazette text rather than relying on a historical register.
Draft Construction Regulations 2025	Published for comment to replace Construction Regulations 2014, but a draft must not automatically be treated as operative law.
Draft General Machinery Regulations 2025	Published for public comment as a proposed replacement for the existing General Machinery framework; draft requirements should be controlled separately from current law until final status is verified.

The Department expressly stated that the new Noise Exposure and Physical Agents Regulations were due to take effect on 5 September 2026. South African Government records also show a February 2026 amendment to the Physical Agents Regulations. Labour.gov.za

Current official sources continue to identify the 2025 Construction Regulations and General Machinery Regulations as draft replacement regulations, while the 2014 Construction

Regulations remain available as the operative published construction framework. South African Government

This leads to one of the most important legal-register rules:

DRAFT IS NOT THE SAME AS CURRENT LAW.

Keep proposed legislation on a legal-change watchlist where useful.

Do not silently move it into the “current legal obligation” column.

Which OHS Laws and Regulations Apply to Your Workplace?

There is no responsible way to answer this question using a one-size-fits-all list.

Applicability depends on what the organisation actually does.

That can include:

• activities;

• machinery;

• equipment;

• substances;

• workforce;

• exposures;

• premises;

• contractors;

• construction work;

• processes;

• emergency hazards;

• sector-specific activities.

The Department's own OHS publications demonstrate that the statutory framework contains numerous regulation families dealing with different hazards and operations. Labour.gov.za

Start With the Occupational Health and Safety Act

For workplaces falling within its scope, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 provides the central framework.

Section 8 establishes broad employer duties around providing and maintaining a safe working environment, identifying hazards, taking reasonably practicable precautions and providing necessary information, instruction, training and supervision. South African Government

For a broader employer explanation of those duties, continue to OHS Act Compliance South Africa: 2026 Employer Guide to Duties, Risk Control and Workplace Training.

Then Screen the Regulations Against the Actual Workplace

The following table is an applicability screen, not a complete legal register.

Regulation Family	Typical Applicability Question
General Administrative Regulations	Do general administrative, incident, committee or record requirements apply?
General Safety Regulations	Which general safety and first-aid duties apply to the workplace?
Noise Exposure Regulations	Are employees exposed to noise within the regulation's scope?
Physical Agents Regulations	Are workers exposed to heat, cold, illumination, vibration, indoor-air or relevant non-ionising-radiation risks?
Hazardous Chemical Agents Regulations	Are hazardous chemical agents used, generated, handled, stored or capable of exposing people?
Ergonomics Regulations	Can work expose people to ergonomic risks?
Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations	Could work expose people to regulated biological agents?
Asbestos Abatement Regulations	Could work disturb or expose people to asbestos?
Construction Regulations	Does the work fall within the definition and scope of construction work?
Driven Machinery Regulations	Does the workplace use machinery or lifting equipment covered by these regulations?
Electrical Machinery Regulations	Are electrical machinery requirements relevant to plant or equipment?
Electrical Installation Regulations	Does the organisation control or work with electrical installations covered by the regulations?
Pressure Equipment Regulations	Is regulated pressure equipment present or used?
Major Hazard Installation Regulations	Could quantities and types of hazardous substances place the establishment within MHI requirements?
Lift, Escalator and Passenger Conveyor Regulations	Does the workplace contain equipment within this specialised framework?
Explosives / Diving / other specialist regulations	Does the business conduct activities within one of these specialised regulatory environments?

The correct result may be:

Applicable

Not applicable

or

Further assessment required

A responsible legal register records why.

Let the Workplace Drive the Legal Register

Do not begin by downloading 40 Acts and asking which pages to put into a binder.

Begin with the workplace.

Ask:

What Does the Organisation Actually Do?

Record:

• business activities;

• departments;

• sites;

• processes;

• maintenance activities;

• contractor work;

• construction activities;

• transport and logistics;

• warehousing;

• production;

• cleaning;

• laboratories;

• offices;

• customer-facing areas.

What Plant and Equipment Exists?

Examples may include:

• lifting machinery;

• cranes;

• hoists;

• forklifts;

• presses;

• grinders;

• welding machines;

• compressors;

• boilers;

• pressure vessels;

• electrical installations;

• conveyors;

• ladders;

• scaffolding;

• mobile plant.

What Hazardous Exposures Exist?

Consider:

• noise;

• heat;

• cold;

• vibration;

• hazardous chemicals;

• dust;

• fumes;

• biological agents;

• asbestos;

• ergonomic stressors;

• radiation or other physical agents.

Then ask:

Which legal source creates duties because that activity, equipment or exposure exists?

That is applicability.

Use HIRA to Help Drive Legal Applicability

A legal register and a HIRA should communicate with each other.

Your HIRA asks:

What can cause harm?

Your legal register asks:

What legal requirements apply to that hazard or activity?

Your control system then asks:

What must we actually do?

The relationship should look like this:

ACTIVITY → HAZARD → LEGAL TRIGGER → DUTY → CONTROL → EVIDENCE

If your HIRA identifies significant noise exposure but your legal register contains no current noise legislation, something is disconnected.

If your legal register identifies hazardous chemical requirements but your operational risk system contains no chemical exposure assessment, something is disconnected.

For the practical risk-assessment process, see

HIRA South Africa: Hazard Identification, 5-Step Risk Assessment, Risk Matrix & Free Template.

How to Build an OHS Legal Register South Africa Employers Can Actually Use

Step 1 — Define the Register Scope

Do not start adding legislation until the register says what it covers.

Record:

• legal entity;

• workplace;

• site;

• division;

• activity;

• geographic scope;

• responsible manager;

• register owner;

• effective date;

• version.

If the register covers only occupational health and safety, say so.

Do not allow an “OHS register” to quietly become a confused mixture of:

• labour law;

• environmental law;

• OHS law;

• client rules;

• internal policy.

Broader SHEQ registers can legitimately include several legal families, but each should be clearly classified.

Step 2 — Build an Activity and Hazard Profile

Identify:

• what people do;

• where they do it;

• equipment used;

• substances used;

• exposures created;

• contractors involved;

• emergency scenarios;

• special work.

This forms the basis for legal applicability.

Step 3 — Build the Legal Universe

Create the pool of Acts, regulations, incorporated requirements, local requirements and related legislation that may be relevant.

Do not yet mark everything as applicable.

The legal universe is the screening population.

The legal register is the applicable result.

Step 4 — Determine Applicability

For every candidate instrument ask:

1. What is its scope?

2. Which activity, hazard, equipment, substance or workforce condition creates the trigger?

3. Does that trigger exist here?

4. Is only part of the regulation relevant?

5. Is specialist advice required?

Record the reasoning.

A simple N/A with no reason is weak.

A stronger entry is:

N/A — workplace does not undertake construction work within the current scope assessed; review if building alteration, excavation or project work begins.

Step 5 — Translate Legislation Into Duties

This is where many registers fail.

Do not stop at the title of the regulation.

Translate relevant provisions into controlled obligations.

A useful duty statement answers:

What does management actually have to ensure?

For example:

Weak

Ergonomics Regulations — applicable.

Stronger

Ergonomic risks associated with identified work activities must be assessed and managed according to the applicable regulatory requirements.

Then retain the precise legal reference alongside the plain-language duty.

Step 6 — Assign Responsibility

Every applicable duty should have ownership.

Depending on the organisation, ownership may sit with:

• chief executive / employer;

• operations;

• engineering;

• maintenance;

• SHE/OHS;

• HR;

• facilities;

• procurement;

• project management;

• supervisors;

• competent specialists.

The register should not create fictitious appointments simply because a spreadsheet expects a name.

Use the applicable legal and operational structure.

For appointment-specific triggers, see the dedicated SSA guide on OHS Legal Appointments South Africa.

Step 7 — Define the Evidence

For every duty, ask:

What would prove implementation?

Examples might include:

• risk assessment;

• inspection record;

• maintenance record;

• appointment;

• training evidence;

• medical-surveillance evidence;

• occupational-hygiene report;

• statutory examination;

• safe-work procedure;

• incident investigation;

• committee record;

• permit;

• certificate;

• contractor evidence;

• physical workplace verification.

The document is not the duty.

It is evidence that the duty is being managed.

Step 8 — Assess Compliance

A practical status model might include:

COMPLIANT Required control and evidence exist and are current.

PARTIALLY COMPLIANT Some elements exist but a gap remains.

NON-COMPLIANT Applicable requirement has not been adequately implemented.

NOT APPLICABLE The organisation can explain why the requirement does not apply.

REVIEW REQUIRED Applicability or legal interpretation needs confirmation.

Never use N/A simply because producing the evidence is inconvenient.

Step 9 — Turn Gaps Into Corrective Actions

A legal register that identifies a failure and stops there is unfinished.

Every gap should drive:

FINDING → ACTION → OWNER → DUE DATE → EVIDENCE → VERIFICATION

Step 10 — Control Legal Changes

Record:

• legal source;

• Gazette or official publication;

• publication date;

• effective date;

• amendment;

• previous version;

• affected register entries;

• affected procedures or risk assessments;

• responsible owner;

• implementation deadline;

• verification.

The legal register must change when the law changes.

What Columns Should an OHS Legal Register Template Contain?

A serious employer template should contain enough information to drive action without becoming impossible to maintain.

Recommended Field	Purpose
Legal instrument	Identifies the Act, regulation or requirement
Section / regulation	Identifies the specific provision
Plain-language duty	Explains what the organisation must manage
Applicability trigger	Records why the requirement applies
Area / process	Shows where it applies
Responsible person / function	Assigns ownership
Existing control	Records what is currently being done
Evidence	Shows what proves implementation
Compliance status	C / partial / NC / N/A / review
Gap	Identifies what is missing
Corrective action	Defines what must change
Action owner	Assigns responsibility for closure
Due date	Controls time
Verification	Shows that closure was checked
Legal source / version	Protects against outdated law
Review trigger	Defines when applicability must be reconsidered

That is far more useful than a three-column spreadsheet containing only:

Act | Applicable? | Comment

OHS Legal Register vs Risk Register vs Safety File

These documents solve different problems.

Tool	Main Question
OHS Legal Register	What legal requirements apply?
HIRA / Risk Register	What hazards and risks exist?
Safety File / Evidence System	What records prove controls and duties are implemented?
Training Matrix	Who needs what knowledge or competence?
Legal Appointment Register	Which roles are legally or operationally triggered?
Inspection Register	What physical conditions or control failures have been found?
Corrective Action Register	What gaps must be fixed and verified?
Legal Compliance Audit	Are we actually meeting the applicable requirements?

These systems should connect.

They should not duplicate one another.

For evidence management, see

Health and Safety File South Africa: Legal Requirements, OHS Records, Checklist & Free Template.

A Legal Register Is Not a Legal Compliance Audit

This distinction is important.

The legal register identifies what applies.

The legal compliance audit tests whether the organisation is actually satisfying those requirements.

An organisation can therefore have an excellent legal register and still have serious compliance failures.

Example:

The register correctly identifies a machinery-guarding requirement.

But the machine on the factory floor has no guard.

The register is correct.

The workplace is not.

That is why the complete assurance chain is:

IDENTIFY LAW → DETERMINE APPLICABILITY → IMPLEMENT CONTROL → COLLECT EVIDENCE → AUDIT → CORRECT → VERIFY

Do SANS Standards Belong in an OHS Legal Register?

Sometimes.

But they should be classified correctly.

A standard may become relevant because:

• legislation incorporates it;

• regulation refers to it;

• a client requires it;

• a contract requires it;

• the organisation adopts it as an internal technical standard;

• an engineering or professional requirement makes it relevant.

Do not automatically label every SANS standard as a statutory duty.

Also do not reproduce proprietary standards into a free legal register.

Instead record:

• standard number;

• title;

• applicable edition;

• legal or contractual basis;

• where the authorised standard is controlled;

• responsible owner.

What About Municipal By-Laws?

Local requirements can matter.

Depending on the site and activity, employers may need to consider requirements involving:

• fire safety;

• building use;

• hazardous substances;

• waste;

• trade effluent;

• public health;

• signage;

• emergency access;

• local permits.

A national template cannot responsibly tell every employer that the same municipal by-law applies.

Record:

Municipality → By-law / requirement → Trigger → Site → Duty → Evidence

This becomes particularly important for multi-site organisations operating in several municipalities.

What About Client and Tender Requirements?

Keep them.

But classify them correctly.

A requirement may be:

STATUTORY

CONTRACTUAL

CLIENT-SPECIFIC

MANAGEMENT-SYSTEM

or

INTERNAL

For example, a client may require:

• a particular legal-register format;

• monthly updates;

• specific permits;

• contractor packs;

• additional evidence;

• client-specific inspections.

Failure to meet that requirement may create serious contractual consequences.

That still does not mean the client invented a new national law.

Classification protects credibility.

Who Should Maintain the OHS Legal Register?

There is no sensible answer that says one job title always owns every legal register.

The organisation should identify a suitable responsible function with enough authority,

competence and access to:

• operations;

• legislation;

• risk information;

• management;

• technical specialists;

• compliance evidence.

Depending on the organisation this may involve:

• OHS/SHE personnel;

• management;

• HR;

• engineering;

• legal advisers;

• external specialists;

• department heads.

Complex legal interpretation should be escalated appropriately rather than guessed.

The register owner also needs a process for distributing changes.

Updating the spreadsheet while leaving every affected procedure unchanged is not legal-change management.

How Often Should an OHS Legal Register Be Reviewed?

There is no good reason to assume every legal register has one universal statutory “12-month expiry date.”

Review should be triggered by what changes.

Important triggers include:

• new legislation;

• amended regulations;

• repeal or replacement;

• new case-specific requirement;

• new plant or machinery;

• new process;

• new chemical;

• changed workforce;

• new contractor activity;

• construction work;

• new site;

• changed municipal jurisdiction;

• incident;

• audit finding;

• inspector finding;

• client requirement;

• scheduled management review.

A sensible organisation may also set a periodic review frequency as an internal control.

But do not confuse an internal annual review with a universal legal rule that every register automatically expires after 12 months.

The Draft-Regulation Trap

A strong legal register needs at least two separate concepts:

Current Applicable Law

Requirements presently in force.

Legal Change Watchlist

Drafts, proposed amendments and known future commencement dates that management should prepare for.

This distinction is especially important in South Africa's current OHS environment.

The 2025 replacement Construction Regulations were issued for public comment and were intended to replace the 2014 regulations. The Department likewise published Draft General Machinery Regulations in 2025. Labour.gov.za

Do not build your compliance system around a draft while ignoring current law.

But do not wait until the day new law commences before asking what needs to change either.

A legal-change watchlist gives management both disciplines.

How Should a Legal Change Be Implemented?

When a relevant law changes, do not simply replace one PDF with another.

Use this process:

CHANGE → IMPACT → OWNER → CONTROL → DOCUMENT → TRAIN → VERIFY

Change

What changed?

Impact

Which sites, people, equipment, procedures or risks are affected?

Owner

Who is responsible for implementation?

Control

What physical or operational change is required?

Document

Which procedures, registers, appointments or records must change?

Train

Does anybody require new information, instruction or competence?

Verify

Has the organisation actually implemented the change?

That is real legal-register management.

How Does the Legal Register Connect to Training?

Training should come after the duty and gap are understood.

Do not reverse the process:

“We sell a course, therefore everybody must need it.”

Use:

LEGAL DUTY → ROLE / HAZARD → REQUIRED COMPETENCE → GAP → APPROPRIATE TRAINING

If the legal register identifies that employees require specific knowledge, instruction or competence, training may be part of the corrective action.

But training cannot replace:

• machine guarding;

• equipment maintenance;

• ventilation;

• engineering control;

• exposure monitoring;

• medical surveillance;

• statutory examinations;

• safe plant;

• specialist assessment.

A legal register should therefore help employers buy less unnecessary training and more of the right training.

How Does an OHS Legal Register Help During a Department Inspection?

A regulator is ultimately interested in whether applicable legal requirements are being met—not whether the company bought a colourful spreadsheet.

A strong legal register can nevertheless help management answer inspection questions quickly.

If an inspector asks:

“Why do you have this control?”

management can identify the requirement.

If asked:

“Who is responsible?”

the owner is recorded.

If asked:

“Show me the evidence.”

the register points to the record.

If asked:

“When did you last review this?”

the register shows the date and trigger.

If asked:

“What did you do about the gap?”

the register connects to corrective action.

For inspection preparation, see

Department of Labour Inspection South Africa: What OHS Inspectors Check, Employer Rights, Notices & Readiness Checklist.

The objective is not to impress the inspector with the thickness of the register.

The objective is to make the safety system explainable.

Common OHS Legal Register Mistakes

Copying Another Company's Register

Two companies may have different:

• equipment;

• exposures;

• processes;

• jurisdictions;

• client requirements;

• contractors;

• sites.

Copying legislation without testing applicability creates false confidence.

Listing Every Regulation as Applicable

More legislation does not mean better compliance.

Applicability should be defensible.

Marking Everything N/A

The opposite problem is equally dangerous.

“N/A” requires a reason.

Recording Only Act and Regulation Titles

A register should reach the duty level where practical.

Using Outdated Regulations

This is particularly risky after recent 2025–2026 OHS regulatory changes.

Treating Draft Law as Final Law

Track drafts.

Do not mislabel them.

Having No Owner

A duty with no accountable function easily becomes everybody's problem and nobody's job.

Having No Evidence Column

Compliance cannot be demonstrated by saying:

“We normally do that.”

Never Connecting Gaps to Corrective Action

A register should drive work.

Updating the Register but Nothing Else

A legislative change may require updates to:

• HIRA;

• procedures;

• equipment;

• training;

• inspections;

• monitoring;

• medical surveillance;

• appointments;

• contractor controls.

The spreadsheet is only the beginning.

The 15-Minute OHS Legal Register Test

Management should be able to answer these questions quickly.

Question	Yes	No	Unsure
Can we identify the current OHS legislation applicable to this workplace?	☐	☐	☐
Can we explain why each major regulation applies?	☐	☐	☐
Have we separated current law from draft law?	☐	☐	☐
Does the register reflect current 2025–2026 regulatory changes?	☐	☐	☐
Are specific duties recorded rather than only legislation titles?	☐	☐	☐
Does every applicable duty have an owner?	☐	☐	☐
Can we identify evidence for each critical duty?	☐	☐	☐
Are N/A decisions supported by reasons?	☐	☐	☐
Are non-compliances converted into corrective actions?	☐	☐	☐
Are legal changes connected to HIRA, procedures and training where required?	☐	☐	☐
Can another manager use the register if the SHE person is absent?	☐	☐	☐
Can management retrieve critical compliance evidence within minutes?	☐	☐	☐

A register that only one consultant understands is not a strong management system.

Free South African OHS Legal Register & Regulatory Applicability Pack

A useful legal-register resource should help the employer determine applicability, not merely provide rows to fill in.

The South African OHS Legal Register & Regulatory Applicability Pack is designed around the workflow:

SCOPE → SCREEN → APPLY → ASSIGN → EVIDENCE → CORRECT → UPDATE → VERIFY

It should help management control:

• workplace and legal-register scope;

• major OHS regulation families;

• applicability decisions;

• specific legal duties;

• responsible people;

• evidence references;

• compliance status;

• N/A reasoning;

• corrective actions;

• legislative amendments;

• draft-law watchlists;

• management review;

• regulator readiness.

The goal is simple:

Know what applies. Know why. Know who owns it. Know what proves it. Know when it changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an OHS legal register in South Africa?

An OHS legal register is a controlled record used to identify the occupational health and safety legislation and regulations applicable to an organisation, record relevant duties, assign responsibility, identify evidence and monitor compliance or corrective actions.

Is an OHS legal register compulsory for every company in South Africa?

Employers must comply with the OHS legislation applicable to their workplaces. The law should not be reduced to the idea that every employer has one identical prescribed legal-register template. A legal register is a practical system for controlling applicable duties and may also be specifically required by clients, tenders or management systems.

What legislation belongs in an OHS legal register?

That depends on the organisation's scope. The OHS Act and applicable regulations are a starting point for many workplaces, but machinery, construction, hazardous agents, ergonomics, noise, physical agents, pressure equipment, local requirements and other legislation may apply depending on operations.

What is the difference between a legal register and a safety file?

The legal register identifies what legal duties apply. The safety file or evidence system organises records showing how those duties and workplace controls are implemented.

What is the difference between a legal register and HIRA?

HIRA identifies hazards, assesses risks and determines controls. The legal register identifies legislation and regulatory duties relevant to those hazards, activities and controls.

How often should a legal register be updated?

Update it when relevant legislation changes and when operational changes alter legal applicability. Organisations may also establish periodic review controls. Do not assume one universal statutory annual-expiry rule applies to every register.

Should draft regulations be included?

They can be tracked on a legal-change watchlist, but they should not automatically be labelled as current operative duties. Always verify current promulgation and commencement status.

Should SANS standards be included?

Where a standard is legally incorporated, contractually required or adopted as an organisational technical requirement, it may be appropriate to reference it. Record the basis clearly and obtain copyrighted standards through authorised channels.

Who should maintain the legal register?

The organisation should assign an appropriate responsible function with sufficient competence and authority to identify changes, coordinate operational input, control evidence and escalate questions requiring specialist or legal advice.

Can a legal register make my company OHS compliant?

No. A register can organise applicable duties and evidence, but compliance depends on whether the required controls are actually implemented in the workplace.

Authoritative Sources & Regulatory References

Authoritative Source	What It Supports
South African Government — Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993	Establishes South Africa's core occupational health-and-safety statutory framework and general employer duties.
Department of Employment and Labour — Promulgated Regulations 2025	Confirms the promulgation of Physical Agents, Noise Exposure and General Safety regulatory changes during 2025.
South African Government — General Administrative Regulations, 2003	Supports general administrative, committee, incident and record-management requirements under the OHS framework.
South African Government — General Safety Regulations, 2025	Provides the official 2025 General Safety regulatory text relevant to current legal-register control.
South African Government — Noise Exposure Regulations, 2025	Provides the current Noise Exposure regulatory framework that became operational in September 2026.
South African Government — Physical Agents Regulations, 2025	Establishes the current physical-agent framework covering relevant workplace exposures.
South African Government — Physical Agents Regulations: Amendments, 2026	Confirms subsequent February 2026 amendment activity affecting the Physical Agents regulatory framework.
South African Government — Hazardous Chemical Agents Regulations, 2021	Supports applicability screening for workplaces involving hazardous chemical-agent exposure.
South African Government — Ergonomics Regulations, 2019	Establishes regulatory duties where work may expose people to ergonomic risks.
South African Government — Construction Regulations, 2014	Provides the current published construction-specific OHS framework against which construction applicability should be assessed.
Department of Employment and Labour — Draft Construction Regulations 2025	Confirms the proposed replacement regulations were published for public comment and should be distinguished from current operative law.
Department of Employment and Labour — Draft General Machinery Regulations 2025	Confirms the proposed machinery-regulation replacement and its draft/public-comment status.

Read More

Read More	Why Read It
HIRA South Africa: Hazard Identification, 5-Step Risk Assessment, Risk Matrix & Free Template	Build the hazard and risk-assessment process that helps identify which activities and exposures may trigger regulatory duties.
Health and Safety File South Africa: Legal Requirements, OHS Records, Checklist & Free Template	Turn applicable duties into controlled workplace evidence, ownership, review dates and verifiable records.
Department of Labour Inspection South Africa: What OHS Inspectors Check, Employer Rights, Notices & Readiness Checklist	Understand how applicable duties and workplace evidence may be tested when an OHS inspector arrives.

Final Word

An OHS legal register should not be judged by how many Acts are listed inside it.

Judge it by whether management can answer:

WHAT APPLIES?

WHY DOES IT APPLY?

WHAT MUST WE DO?

WHO OWNS IT?

WHAT PROVES IT?

ARE WE COMPLIANT?

WHAT CHANGED?

A legal register that can answer those questions becomes part of the organisation's safety-management system.

A register that cannot is just another spreadsheet.