The construction industry is set to receive over three thousand registered Construction Health and Safety professionals in 2015 thanks to the South African Council for Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP).

“We are happy to announce that systems are in place and have been streamlined to professionalise the CHS discipline.

“Our efforts to register competent CHS professionals will also contribute to the reduction of deaths, injuries and other incidents on construction sites,”says Nomvula Rakolote, Registrar of the SACPCMP.

“It is shocking that South Africa sees almost two deaths a week on construction sites. This means loss of life, loss of breadwinners and loss of family members,”  she adds.

Since the beginning of the year, the SACPCMP has received between three hundred and four hundred applications per month between January and March 2015.

This is a significant increase from the nine hundred applications the SACPCMP had received since the opening of registration in June 2013 until December 2014 – in an eighteen month long period.

“This means that we have received close to eight hundred applications in two months. We currently have a total in excess of one thousand seven hundred, some of which have been processed while others are still in the system,” continues  Rakolote.

The increase in registration has been boosted by the constant training and appointment of new assessors which augmented an initial pool of fourteen since the opening of registration.

This group of assessors has steadily shot up to twenty one people in February 2015. This number is set to rise as more training workshops and induction of assessors are scheduled for early April 2015.

The SACPCMP further calls on all persons with relevant experience and/or qualifications to apply for registration as CHS professionals.

“We are taking CHS into the boardroom. The work of CHS practitioners will now be a priority to senior executives to save life and limb on construction sites,” concludes Rakolote.