Reviewed by the OSPC: May 2010

BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE, SAFETY & ASSOCIATED PROFESSIONALS

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION & REGISTRATION PROCEDURE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY PRACTITIONERS: PROCEDURE DOCUMENT
(as at May 2010)

BACKGROUND TO OHSAP The Board of Registration for Occupational Hygiene, Safety & Associated Professionals (OHSAP) was formed when the Minister of Labour established a working group to examine the education and training and the professionalisation of Occupational Hygiene and Safety practitioners. This working group, after two years of deliberation, recommended to the Minister that a professional registration scheme be developed with a Board to administer it. This received the blessing of the Minister and OHSAP was registered as a Section 21 Company in 2000. OHSAP is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of two directors each from the Institute of Safety Management (IoSM) and the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH) with two alternate directors each from these same bodies. OHSAP has licensed IoSM and SAIOH, as the lead bodies, each for its own discipline, to, on its behalf; conduct the professional registration of Occupational Safety and Occupational Hygiene Practitioners with OHSAP controlling the quality and integrity of the system. The OHSAP office receives the applications for registration and certification and, after controlling that the application requirements have been met and the documentation is in order, refers the applications to the relevant Council i.e. SAIOH Occupational Hygiene Professionals Council (OHPC) or IoSM Occupational Safety Professionals Council (OSPC) for evaluation and for conducting the assessments. After the assessments have been conducted and the results have been arrived at, a recommendation is made to the OHSAP Board who will inform the applicants of the outcome. Note: All communication about any application or its results and outcomes must first be directed to the Registrar of OHSAP; however, if a satisfactory response is not received within a reasonable time or there is any dissatisfaction with the service by the OHSAP administration, complaints or appeals may be directed to the Chairman of the OHSAP Board whose contact details appear below. The latter person will deal with the complaint together with the Chairman of either the OHPC or OSPC.
Contact Details of the OHSAP Board Chairman: Postal address: Tel. Fax Email PO Box 14402, Clubview, 0014 012 654 8349 012 654 8358 info@raysaf.co.za

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THE PROCEDURE FOR APPLYING FOR PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION

The Occupational Safety Professionals Council (OSPC) of IoSM has set minimum learning standards and qualifications for the recognition of competency in Occupational Safety practice that have been accepted by OHSAP. In order to receive recognition of their professional status candidates are obliged to apply to be registered and certified by OHSAP.

Important Notice
This document provides the criteria required for registration and certification at the various levels Please read the following information carefully before attempting to complete the application form. Applications with incomplete or missing data will not be considered and this may lead to delays in processing your application.
APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION OR UPGRADING

Application for registration and certification or an upgrade must be made on the attached application form. It must be completed in full. Particular care should be taken to fully complete the verification of experience section. A separate sheet must be completed for each previous employer where you are claiming experience in occupational safety. These should be signed by an appropriate employer representative or by a ROSPrac or ROSProf who can vouch for your experience. Please note that time spent on studies cannot be claimed as experience. OHSAP reserves the right to confirm the information provided in these forms. It should be noted that incomplete forms will be returned and the application will not be considered until a properly completed form is received together with the required supporting documents. All applications and supporting documentation must be received at least 30 days prior to the scheduled assessment date. The requisite application and assessment fee is payable on receipt of an invoice from OHSAP. This must be remitted and proof of payment received by the OHSAP office before the applicant will be allowed to attend the assessment.
CRITERIA FOR CERTIFICATION & REGISTRATION Educational and Training Unit Standards have been developed by the SAQA appointed Standards Generating Body (OH&S) as a road map for Occupational Safety Practitioners to progress through the ranks of the profession, from starting off as an Occupational Safety Coordinator (OSCoord) to Registered Occupational Safety Practitioner (ROSPrac) to becoming a fully developed and recognised Registered Occupational Safety Professional (ROSProf).

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Providers of training will be required to offer courses meeting these standards and courses will be required to be accredited by SAQA. Criteria based on educational qualifications and achievements in a Management, Science or Engineering field, acceptable to OHSAP, and a suitable period of practical experience in the field of Occupational Safety and/or associated fields, will be accepted in the interim. It is believed that this combination of education and experience will enable Occupational Safety Practitioners to be classified into categories equivalent to the NQF levels 5 to 7 at some future stage. REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION CATEGORIES AND CRITERIA
Certification grades have been established with the minimum education and experience levels as follows: Occupational Safety Coordinator: (OSCoord) Education: Grade 9 (Std. 7) plus written examination set by OHSAP (*Learners Guide available from info@raysaf.co.za)

* Learners Guide dispatched after receipt of the

required Application & Exam fee. Experience: 1 year of experience (60% safety related) in the functions as described in the IoSM Unit Standards Register for Safety Co-coordinators. (Unit Standards Register available on www.iosm.co.za or from info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request) One hour written multiple choice questions exam Pass Mark 60% Certification will be valid for three years after which the applicant will have to re-apply. Registered Occupational Safety Practitioner (ROSPrac) Education: Grade 12 (Matric) + 3 years further study or 360 NQF credits in Occupational Safety (see Note 7 below). 3 years of experience in the functions as described in the IoSM Unit Standards Register for Safety Practitioners. (Unit Standards Register available on www.iosm.co.za or from info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request)

Assessment:

Experience:

Assessment

Applicants will be assessed for competence to practice by means of a 2 hour written assessment. Pass Mark: Paper 1: 60%; Paper 2: 65% ROSPracs will have to maintain their certification through the prescribed Continued Professional Development system (Available on www.iosm.co.za or from info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request) Applicants are given a choice of industry category in which they wish to be assessed (see Note 2 below)

Registered Occupational Safety Professional (ROSProf)

Education:

Grade 12 (Matric) + 4 years further study or 480 NQF credits in Occupational Safety (see Note 7 below) 5 years of experience in the functions as described in the IoSM Unit Standards Register for Safety Professionals. (Unit Standards Register available on info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request)

Experience:

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Assessment:

Applicants will be assessed for competence to practice by means of a 3 hour written assessment followed by a one hour interview by a panel. Pass Mark: Paper 1: 60%; Paper 2: 65%; Paper 3: 70% ROSProfs will have to maintain their certification through the prescribed Continued Professional Development system (Available on www.iosm.co.za or from info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request) Applicants must be competent to practice in any branch of Industry.

Note 1.

Applicants may select from the industry categories below which category they wish the assessments to focus on. The choice is made on the application form. If no choice is made the applicant will be assessed in the general industry category: General & Manufacturing Construction Transport & Warehousing Electricity Local Authority Petro-Chemical Mining Food & Beverage Forestry & Agriculture

Note 2: Note 3: Note 4:

On failing a paper, the applicant will be allowed one rewrite of the failed paper and will not have to rewrite the whole exam. At OSCoord and ROSPrac levels, two years of experience, as defined above, may be substituted for each year of formal education.
Part time work in Occupational Safety will be prorated to full time to equate it to equivalent experience.

Note 5:

The above are minimum requirements for entry into the applicable level and gives the practitioner, once having been registered at a lower level, the opportunity for growth and development up to a higher level/s Work in Occupational Safety is as described in the IoSM Unit Standards Register. (Unit Standards Register available on www.iosm.co.za or from info@raysaf.co.za or posted on request) Occupational Safety includes the associated specialist fields such as mining and aviation for example. All applications must be accompanied by: A current CV Certified proof of Qualifications Written proof of experience claimed on the Experience Verification form provided or a Service Record/s issued by the applicants present and/or previous employer/s and signed by the applicants immediate supervisor (past and present). PLEASE NOTE: where the experience verification form is used an additional form must be submitted for each employer and period of employment claimed. A Job profile of current position held A Letter of reference from the applicants employer confirming the details of his/her application.

Note 6:

Note 7. Note 8.

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Note 9:

Applications for Certification & Registration will not be processed unless: the application forms are completed IN FULL and unless complying with all the above requirements Applications will only be received by post or Email: NO FAXED APPLICATIONS ARE ALLOWED Candidates who have not confirmed that they will be attending the assessments will not be accommodated on the day of the assessment and will have to wait until the next assessment date. A candidate who has confirmed that he/she will be attending an assessment and does not arrive for the assessment will forfeit his/her application and assessment fee and have to pay this fee again if he/she still wishes to be assessed. Claims of a lack of notification to attend an assessment will not be accepted as a valid reason for non-attendance at the assessment. It is the applicants responsibility to ensure that the Registrar has the correct up-to-date contact details and, if the candidate does not receive acknowledgement of receipt of his/her application within a reasonable time, it is the applicants responsibility to follow this up.

Note 10:

Please note that feedback will be given on request where candidates have failed but ASSESSMENT ANSWER PAPERS WILL NOT BE MADE AVAILABLE TO CANDIDATES

REGISTRATION AND CERTIFICATION

Once applicants have successfully completed the above formalities and have paid the appropriate fees, the OHSAP Board will issue a certificate indicating the category awarded and place them on the Register. (see below)

UPGRADING
Any registrant who is of the opinion that his/her education and/or experience have been sufficiently upgraded to warrant a change in categorisation may apply for review. The procedure and fee structure will be the same as for that of a new application.

REGISTER
OHSAP will keep a register of registrants that will, inter alia, contain the following details: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Date of Registration and Certification; Level of Registration and Certification; Registration number Summary of academic qualifications; Summary of experience in the field of Occupational Safety; Date and result of any upgrade requests.

Each registrant will be entitled to request a copy of the information recorded under his/her name in the Register. A fee to cover the costs of extracting and sending this information will be set by OHSAP from time to time.

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Any registrant who is dissatisfied with the information recorded under his name in the Register may appeal to the OHSAP Board. The decision of the Board on the appeal shall be final.

TITLE
Registered Occupational Safety Practitioners may append the term Registered Occupational Safety Practitioner OR ROSPrac after their name. Registered Occupational Safety Professionals may append the term Registered Occupational Safety Professional OR ROSProf after their name. No other terms, wording, abbreviations or acronyms other than those above are permitted. These terms only apply to natural persons and may not be applied to organisations or bodies associated with those persons.

DISCIPLINE
Registration may be cancelled if a registrant: fails to remit any prescribed fee/s. fails to submit the required annual Continuous Development return a disciplinary committee or panel as envisaged in the Code of Conduct finds that a registrant did not adhere to the said Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct may be obtained from info@raysaf.co.za.

REGISTRATION AUTHORITY
The Board of Registration for Occupational Hygiene, Safety and Associated Professions (OHSAP) will be the authority in this regard. The Occupational Safety Professionals Council of the Institute of Safety Management acts as agent for OHSAP and will be responsible for the verification, examination and recommendation of the levels of registration for Occupational Safety Practitioners to OHSAP. Any dispute between The Occupational Safety Professionals Council of the Institute of Safety Management and an applicant for registration that cannot be resolved will be referred to OHSAP for mediation and final decision. For any additional information please contact: The Registrar: OHSAP PO Box 14402, Clubview 0014 Tel: (012) 654 8349 Fax (012) 654 8358 Email: info@raysaf.co.za
May 2010

For any complaints about service please contact: The Chairman: OHSAP PO Box 14402 Clubview 0014 Tel: (012) 654 8349 Fax (012) 654 8358 Email info@raysaf.co.za

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