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Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993)

Regulations

Regulations for Hazardous Biological Agents, 2022

3. Classification of biological agents

 

(1) Biological agents must be assigned a classification of Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 or Group 4 according to hazard and categories of contaminant by the chief inspector in consultation with the HBAs health and safety technical committee.

 

(2) Where a biological agent has not been assigned a classification as contemplated in subregulation (1), the employer or self-employed person must provisionally classify that biological agent in accordance with subregulation (3), having regard to the nature of the biological agent and the properties of which he or she may reasonably be expected to be aware and must without delay notify the chief inspector of the provisional classification and the reason therefor. The chief inspector may make a decision based on the recommendation of the HBAs technical committee.

 

(3) When provisionally classifying a biological agent, the employer or self- employed person must conduct a risk assessment and assign that biological agent to one of the groups and if there is doubt according to its level of risk of infection as to which of two alternative groups would be most appropriate, the biological agent must be assigned to the higher of the two.