The South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health was established in February 2010 by a group of health and safety professionals from South Africa. These enthusiastic professionals saw the need of establishing an organisation that would take the health and safety profession to the next level by creating a portal and platform for knowledge-sharing.

When the South African Institute of Safety and Health (SAIOSH) was established, the following were some of their main objectives:

a) They wanted to promote the art and science of accident prevention
b) To wanted to upgrade professional skills of members of the organisation
c) They aimed at setting the standards for competence
d) Registration of professional designation

Who can become a member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health?

Occupational Health and Safety Practitioners can demonstrate competence to employers, clients, customers or peers by registering as a member with Saiosh. Saiosh maintains a national register of all its members. Saiosh acts as a lobby group for Occupational Health and Safety legislation and standards. For this purpose, it interacts and liaises with the Department of Labour and other Government Bodies on behalf of its members.

There are various benefits of being a member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Members can benefit from the following:

1. Monthly meetings.

These are beneficiary as they accommodate the proactive sharing of information and knowledge amongst health and safety professionals as well as ensuring that they are always up to date with latest information.

2. Seminars and workshops

These are conducted from time to time and a wide range of Health and Safety topics are discussed by professionals with experience and knowledge in those particular topics.

3. Advice is given by D.O.L., Safety Consultants and Training Institutions

4. Up-to-date information on new products and legislation is provided.

This helps health and safety professionals to always meet compliance standards in the workplace as they will execute their duties according to latest legislation stipulations.

5. Reference material and news via the electronic media.

6. Liaison with other institutions having similar objectives.

Liaising with other institutes that have ‘health and safety’ as their objective as well will assist health and safety professionals to learn more about the wide scope of health and safety from more skilled, informed and experienced professionals.

The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is in partnership with organisations and institutes that share the same objectives and goals (health and safety) with the Institute.

The following are some example of those organisations:

• ASOSH (Association of Societies for Occupational Safety & Health)
• SAIOH ( South African Institute for Occupational Hygiene)
• SAQA( South African Qualifications Authority)
• SABS ( South African Bureau of Standards)
• SAPEMA (SA Protective Equipment Marketing Association)
• SFA (Safety First Association)

Membership into the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health is divided into two. There is corporate membership, which is membership that companies can subscribe to and there is individual membership, which health and safety professionals are encouraged to take up. The level of professionalism in the health and safety field determines which membership level one can be admitted into.

It would be wise for employers to ensure that their health and safety professionals subscribe to this informative institute as it will assist them to expand their knowledge base.

The South African Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (SAIOSH) also endorses organisations that are in the health and safety field. However, only the best and reputable organisations can get the privilege of be endorsed by SAIOSH.

MAKROSAFE endorsement

MAKROSAFE is proud to be endorsed by SAIOSH and by doing health and safety training with us, your employees can enjoy the privilege of automatically becoming members of this organisation. Contact us today and schedule for your training.