Work plays a central role in our daily lives, and most of us spend at least eight hours a day in the workplace.

Therefore the workplace should be a safe and healthy environment. Due to a lack of attention and management, this is not the case; and is the cause of most work-related accidents and diseases.

Health & Safety laws are not made up; they are instated by the Department of Labour of South Africa.

First Aiders in the workplace is a legal compliance requirement for all businesses, it is compulsory to have a trained First Aider when you employ more than ten (10) people.

However when determining the number of fire fighters that need to be trained in a company, the ratio is 1:50, with a minimum of two Fire Fighters per section or part thereof.

Every employer who has more than twenty (20) employees in their employment at any workplace shall designate in writing for a specified period of time, a health and safety representative.

It is important to train your staff members accordingly, by sending them on First Aid Level 1, Basic Fire Fighting and Health & Safety Representative training courses.

Remember as Sir Brian Appleton said: “Safety is not an intellectual exercise designed to keep us in work. It is a matter of life or death. It is the sum of our contributions to safety management that determines whether the people we work with live or die.”