The Construction Regulations 2014 define a health and safety file as a file, or other record, containing the information in writing required by those Regulations. That definition is the whole test: if a regulation says something must be in writing, it belongs in the file.
The definition in regulation 1 is deliberately short: a health and safety file is “a file, or other record containing the information in writing required by these Regulations”.
There is no schedule listing its contents. That surprises people, and it is why two contractors on the same site can produce files that look nothing alike. The contents are not invented by the file; they are set by every other regulation that says something must be in writing. Work through those and the file assembles itself.
The Act and the Regulations impose duties, but a duty you cannot evidence is indistinguishable from one you did not discharge. The file is where the evidence lives. When an inspector arrives, or a client runs a site access audit, or something goes wrong and the question becomes what was in place beforehand, the file is the answer or there isn’t one.
That framing is more useful than treating it as paperwork. Every item in it exists because a regulation required a decision to be made and written down — who was appointed, what the risks were assessed to be, who was trained, what was inspected and when. The file is the project’s memory of those decisions.
It also explains why a file assembled the week before an audit reads so differently from one kept as the work went. Dates that all cluster in the same fortnight tell their own story.
| Regulation | Duty | On whom |
|---|---|---|
| 7(1)(b) | Open and keep on site a health and safety file, which must include all documentation required in terms of the Act and these Regulations | Principal contractor |
| 5(1)(s) | Ensure that the health and safety file contemplated in regulation 7(1)(b) is kept and maintained by the principal contractor | Client |
| 7(1)(e) | Hand over a consolidated health and safety file to the client on completion of the construction work, including drawings, designs, materials used and related information | Principal contractor |
Three points fall out of that. The file lives on site, not in a head office. The client cannot simply delegate and forget, because they carry their own duty to make sure it is being kept. And it does not end when the work ends — a consolidated file goes to the client, which is what turns it into a record the building carries afterwards.
Work outwards from the definition. Each of these is required in writing by a regulation or by the Act, so each belongs in the file.
| Document | Where the requirement comes from |
|---|---|
| The construction work permit, or the written notification of construction work | Construction Regulations 3 and 4 |
| Written appointment of the construction manager and the alternate | Construction Regulation 8(1) |
| Written appointment of the construction health and safety officer, where one is appointed | Construction Regulation 8(5) |
| Written appointment of each contractor for their part of the project | Construction Regulation 7 |
| The risk assessment for the construction work | Construction Regulation 9 |
| Proof of registration and good standing with the compensation fund or a licensed compensation insurer | Construction Regulation 5(1)(j) — see letter of good standing |
| Fall protection arrangements for work at height | Construction Regulation 10 |
| Inspection records for scaffolding, suspended platforms, cranes and mobile plant on site | Construction Regulations 16, 17, 22 and 23 |
| Written designation of health and safety representatives, and committee records | OHS Act sections 17, 19 and 20 |
| Training records and certificates for the people on site | OHS Act sections 8 and 13 |
| Records of incidents reported to an inspector | OHS Act section 24 |
In practice the file itself is rarely missing. What fails is the training section, for two reasons that have nothing to do with filing.
The first is expiry. A certificate that was valid when the file was assembled is not valid six months into a long project, and the file is a live document rather than a submission pack. The second is provenance: a certificate that names no accrediting body is difficult to defend when someone asks who stood behind the assessment.
Both are worth checking before a site audit rather than during one. Pull the training section, list every name against every certificate, and check the date and the issuing body on each.
Send us the names and roles on your site and we will tell you which certificates the file should hold against each one, and what it costs to bring the expired ones current. We train at your site anywhere in South Africa, or at our Mokopane centre.
Training for employers| On site | The course |
|---|---|
| Designated health and safety representatives | SHE Representative |
| A certified first aider available on shift | First aid courses |
| People able to use the fire equipment provided | Fire fighting courses |
| Anyone working where there is a risk of falling | Working at Heights |
| Scaffold erectors and inspectors | Erect and inspect scaffolding |
| Operators of cranes, plant and lifting equipment | Lifting machinery and earth moving |
No. Regulation 1 defines it as a file, or other record, containing the information in writing required by the Regulations, and leaves it there. The contents come from every other regulation that requires something in writing — permits and notifications, written appointments, risk assessments, inspection records, proof of good standing, and the records the OHS Act itself requires.
On site. Regulation 7(1)(b) requires the principal contractor to open and keep the file on site. A copy at head office does not satisfy it, and an inspector asking to see it is asking to see it where the work is happening.
Regulation 7(1)(e) requires the principal contractor to hand a consolidated health and safety file to the client on completion, including drawings, designs, materials used and related information. It becomes part of the record the client holds for the structure.
Both, from different directions. The principal contractor opens, keeps and hands it over under regulation 7. The client has a separate duty under regulation 5(1)(s) to ensure it is actually being kept and maintained. A client who never asks to see it is not discharging their own duty.
Each contractor is appointed in writing under regulation 7 for the part of the project they are doing, and the documentation that appointment generates has to reach the principal contractor’s file. In practice most subcontractors keep their own pack covering their people, appointments, risk assessments and certificates, and feed it into the site file.
