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

Regulations

Lead Regulations, 2001

12. Personal protective equipment and facilities

 

(1) An employer or self-employed person shall—
(a) provide all persons who are exposed to concentrations of airborne lead in excess of half the OEL for lead, with suitable protective clothing with no pockets so as to reduce the possibility of contamination and collection of lead dust;
(b) in the case of tetra-alkyl leads which can be absorbed through the skin, provide the person with suitable lead impermeable protective equipment; and
(c) provide a person with suitable respiratory protective equipment to ensure that the person’s exposure is adequately controlled as contemplated in regulation 11.

 

(2) Where respiratory protective equipment is provided, the employer or self-employer person shall ensure that—
(a) the relevant equipment is capable of keeping the exposure at or below the OEL for the type of lead;
(b) the relevant equipment is correctly selected and properly used;
(c) information, instruction, training and supervision that are necessary with regard to the use of the equipment are known to the persons; and
(d) the equipment is kept in good condition and efficient working order.

 

(3) An employer or self-employed person shall, as far as is reasonably practicable –—
(a) issue no personal protective equipment which has already been used to a person, unless the relevant protection equipment is properly decontaminated and, where appropriate, sterilised;
(b) provide separate containers or storage facilities for personal protective equipment when not in use; and
(c) ensure that all personal protective equipment not in use is stored only in the place provided.

 

(4) An employer or self-employed person shall, as far as is reasonably practicable, ensure that all contaminated personal protective equipment is cleaned and handled in accordance with the following procedures—
(a) Where the equipment is cleaned on the premises of the employer or self-employed person, care shall be taken to prevent contamination during handling, transport and cleaning;
(b) where the equipment is sent off the premises to a contractor for cleaning purposes the—
(i) equipment shall be packed in impermeable containers;
(ii) containers shall be tightly sealed and have clear indication thereon that the content thereof is contaminated with lead; and
(iii) relevant contractor shall be fully informed of the requirements of these Regulations and the precautions to be taken for the handling of the lead-contaminated equipment.

 

(5) Subject to subregulation (4)(b), an employer or self-employed person shall ensure that no person removes dirty or contaminated personal protective equipment from the premises : Provided that where contaminated personal protective equipment has to be disposed of, it shall be treated as lead waste as contemplated in regulation 17.

 

(6) Subject to the provisions of the Facilities Regulations promulgated by Government Notice No. R. 2362 of 5 October 1990, an employer shall, where reasonably practicable, provide employees who use personal protective equipment as contemplated in subregulation (1) with—
(a) adequate washing facilities which are readily accessible and located in an area where the facilities will not become contaminated, in order to enable the employees to meet a standard of personal hygiene consistent with the adequate control of exposure, and to avoid the spread of lead;
(b) two separate lockers labelled "protective clothing" and "personal clothing" respectively, located in both the "dirty" and "clean" change rooms, and also ensure that the clothing is kept separately in the lockers concerned; and
(c) separate "clean" and "dirty" change rooms if the employer uses or processes lead to the extent that the lead could endanger the health of persons outside the workplace.