Construction Vehicles and Mobile Plant Compliance

Published: 30 October 2026

Construction vehicles and mobile plant compliance in South Africa is governed mainly by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (OHS Act) and the Construction Regulations, 2014 published under it. If you run TLBs, excavators, tippers, rollers or water carts on a construction site, regulation 23 of those regulations sets out what the machines, the operators and the site layout must look like. Roadworthiness on its own is not enough: a tipper with a valid certificate of fitness can still be a contravention on site if the operator has no written authorisation or the daily inspection register is missing.

This guide explains who carries the legal duties, what regulation 23 actually requires, how section 16(2) appointments and section 37 work, what changes when the site is on a mine, and how to keep the records an inspector will ask for. For the wider legal map, see our SA transport regulatory landscape guide.

Which Laws Apply to Construction Vehicles and Mobile Plant?

Three frameworks can apply, and which one governs depends on where the machine is working.

| Where the machine works | Main law | Key provisions |
|---|---|---|
| Construction site (not a mine) | OHS Act 85 of 1993 and Construction Regulations, 2014 | Reg 23 (construction vehicles and mobile plant), reg 8 (management and supervision), reg 9 (risk assessment) |
| Public road, travelling to or between sites | National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (NRTA) | Licensing, roadworthiness, driving licence and PrDP, mass limits. Reg 23 itself says vehicles on public roads must comply with the NRTA |
| Mine, mining area or works | Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 (MHSA) and its regulations | Chapter 8 regulation 8.10 (trackless mobile machinery) and the mine's codes of practice |

The OHS Act does not stack on top of the MHSA on a mine. Section 1(3) of the OHS Act excludes mines, mining areas and works, so on a mine the MHSA regime applies instead. Contractors still need to manage both, because the same truck may work a municipal project one month and a mine expansion the next.

What Does Regulation 23 Require?

Regulation 23(1) opens with "A contractor must ensure that all construction vehicles and mobile plant" and then lists requirements. In summary, the contractor must ensure that machines are:

• of acceptable design and construction, maintained in good working order and used only for the purpose they were designed for;
• operated only by workers who are trained and competent, authorised in writing by the contractor, and who hold a medical certificate of fitness issued by an occupational health practitioner in the form of Annexure 3 to the regulations;
• fitted with safe access and egress, and with operator protection where there is a risk of overturning;
• fitted with an audible warning device and, where needed, an automatic reversing alarm;
• inspected by the operator at the start of each shift, with the results recorded in a register kept for that purpose.

Regulation 23(2) adds site duties: no one may ride on parts of a machine not designed for passengers, the site must be organised so pedestrians and vehicles can move safely, traffic routes must be suitable and signposted, unattended plant near roads or work areas must be lit or barricaded at night, parked plant must be made safe (buckets lowered, controls neutral, brakes set, ignition secured), and vehicles that use public roads must comply with the NRTA.

The regulation does not set a site speed limit or prescribe proximity detection; those come from your risk assessment and the principal contractor's site rules. Read the current text (GN R84 of 7 February 2014) rather than relying on a summary.

Who Carries the Legal Duties on a Construction Site?

The Construction Regulations divide duties between the client, the designer, the principal contractor and each contractor. For fleets, the practical chain is:

• Client: sets the health and safety specification and checks the principal contractor's plan.
• Principal contractor: controls the whole site, including how its subcontractors' vehicles and plant are managed, and may refuse access to machines that do not comply.
• Contractor (including plant hire and haulage subcontractors): carries the regulation 23 duties for its own machines and operators.

Regulation 8 deals with management and supervision. Under regulation 8(5), a contractor must appoint a construction health and safety officer in writing where the size of the project, the degree of danger or the accumulation of hazards on site make one necessary, and regulation 8(6) requires that person to be competent and registered with the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP).

There is no legal requirement for a "fleet safety officer". The title appears in job adverts, but neither the OHS Act nor the Construction Regulations create it. The figure of 50 workers that sometimes gets attached to a safety officer comes from a different provision: section 17 of the OHS Act, which deals with health and safety representatives, not safety officers.

How Do Section 16(2) Appointments and Section 37 Work?

"16.2 appointment" is industry shorthand for section 16(2) of the OHS Act. Section 16(1) makes the chief executive officer responsible for ensuring, as far as reasonably practicable, that the employer's duties under the Act are properly discharged. Section 16(2) lets the CEO assign any of those duties to a person under his or her control, "without derogating from" the CEO's own responsibility. Section 16(3) adds that this does not relieve the employer of its liability either.

In other words, a 16(2) appointment spreads accountability; it does not move liability off the CEO or the company. The letter still matters, because it shows duties went to someone with the authority and competence to carry them out. Appointing a clerk who cannot stop a machine is evidence of a gap, not a defence.

Section 37 matters even more for fleets that use subcontractors or hired plant:

• Under section 37(1), when an employee does something that would be an offence for the employer, the employer is presumed to have done it unless it proves the act was without its permission, outside the employee's authority, and that it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. Issuing an instruction forbidding the act is not, by itself, proof of reasonable steps.
• Under section 37(2), the same presumption applies to the acts of a mandatary (such as a subcontractor), unless the parties have agreed in writing on arrangements and procedures to ensure the mandatary complies with the Act. This is the "37(2) agreement" that principal contractors ask plant hire and haulage subcontractors to sign.

Penalties are set in section 38. As published, section 38(1) provides for a fine of up to R50,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both, for the listed contraventions. Section 38(2) covers an employer or user whose act or omission injures someone in circumstances that would have been culpable homicide had the person died, with a fine of up to R100,000, imprisonment of up to two years, or both. Individuals can be convicted alongside the employer.

What Risk Assessment and Traffic Controls Are Expected?

Regulation 9 requires a contractor to have a risk assessment done by a competent person before work starts and to review it as the work changes. Mobile plant usually carries some of the highest risks on site, so the assessment should cover at least:

• vehicle and pedestrian interaction, especially at loading points and gates;
• reversing and blind spots, and whether a banksman or spotter is needed;
• excavation edges, slopes and ground conditions;
• overhead power lines and buried services;
• night work, dust and poor visibility;
• interaction between machines in confined areas;
• public road access and the condition of vehicles before they leave site.

Apply the hierarchy of controls: separate people and vehicles physically first, then use procedures such as one-way systems, marshals and permits, and only then rely on PPE. Speed limits on site are a principal contractor decision based on the risk assessment, not a figure set by the regulations, so build them into the site traffic plan and induction.

What Changes When Construction Work Is on a Mine?

When the work is inside a mining right area, the MHSA and the mine's own codes of practice govern your machines. Trucks, TLBs and other self-propelled equipment are treated as trackless mobile machinery (TMM). The relevant rule is regulation 8.10 of the Chapter 8 regulations under the MHSA which addresses risks such as collisions, uncontrolled movement and overturning. The mine's TMM code of practice will set its own specifications.

In practice, expect a mine to require some or all of the following before a machine enters:

• a pre-access inspection by mine personnel against its TMM standard;
• a collision avoidance or proximity detection interface where the mine's risk assessment calls for it (see our proximity detection systems guide);
• ROPS and FOPS where applicable, seatbelts, fire suppression on specified equipment and visibility markings;
• mine-specific operator induction, medicals and authorisation.

Inspectors under the MHSA can halt work with a section 54 instruction, and a contractor's machine can be the cause. Our article on section 54 stoppages and TMM compliance covers what triggers them, and the mining transport compliance guide gives the wider picture.

What Should Be in Each Machine and Operator File?

Inspectors from the Department of Employment and Labour, and principal contractors running their own audits, tend to ask for the same documents. Use this checklist as a starting point and adjust it to the site specification.

| File | Documents to hold | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Machine | Make, model and serial or registration; service history; defect reports and close-outs; daily inspection register | Shows reg 23 maintenance and inspection duties are met |
| Machine (road-going) | Licence disc; certificate of fitness or roadworthy where the class requires it | NRTA compliance when travelling between sites |
| Operator | Training and competence records for each machine type; written authorisation; Annexure 3 medical certificate; site induction | Reg 23 operator requirements |
| Operator (road-going) | Correct driving licence code; PrDP where required | NRTA licensing; see our driver licensing and PrDP guide |
| Contractor | Section 16(2) appointment letters; reg 8 appointments; risk assessment; section 37(2) agreement; COIDA letter of good standing | Shows duties were assigned and controlled |
| Incidents | Incident register, investigations and corrective actions | Section 24 reporting duties and lessons learned |

A note on incident reporting: section 24 of the OHS Act requires certain incidents to be reported to an inspector, but traffic accidents on a public road are excluded from that section and are handled under road traffic law instead. Our incident and accident management guide covers both routes.

How Can Technology Keep the Records Current?

The hard part is keeping dozens of certificates, registers and appointments in date across several sites. A fleet system helps when it ties each requirement to the asset or person it belongs to:

• digital daily inspections with photos and defect escalation, which also form the reg 23 register;
• expiry alerts for medical certificates, operator authorisations, licences, PrDPs and COFs;
• maintenance schedules by engine hours or kilometres, with defects tracked to close-out;
• site allocation, so you can show which machine and operator were where on a given day.

T-ERP holds plant and vehicles as assets with their inspections, work orders and documents, and holds operator credentials with expiry alerts, which is how many plant hire and haulage operators keep these files current. Our plant hire management guide shows how the same records support utilisation and billing, and fleet maintenance covers the workshop side.

Conclusion

Construction vehicles and mobile plant compliance comes down to a short list of legal duties applied consistently: machines fit for purpose and inspected every shift, operators trained, authorised in writing and medically fit, a site laid out to keep people and vehicles apart, and clear written allocation of responsibility under sections 16(2) and 37(2). On mines, the MHSA and the mine's TMM code of practice replace the Construction Regulations, and the bar is usually higher.

None of this needs a special job title, only accurate records you can produce on the day an inspector asks.

Sources

• Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (gov.za) - section 1(3) (mines excluded), sections 16, 17, 24, 37 and 38
• Construction Regulations, 2014, regulation 23: construction vehicles and mobile plant (Acts Online) - contractor duties for machines, operators, inspection registers and site traffic
• Construction Regulations, 2014, regulation 8: management and supervision (Acts Online) - construction health and safety officer appointment and competence
• Construction Regulations, 2014 (Acts Online index) - regulations 5 to 9 on client, principal contractor and contractor duties and risk assessment
• Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 (gov.za) - framework for mines, codes of practice and section 54
• Regulations relating to machinery and equipment, Chapter 8, trackless mobile machinery, GG 38493 (DMPR) - regulation 8.10 on TMM

The information in this article is for general guidance only. Regulations and requirements may change - always verify current requirements with the relevant South African regulatory authority.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does South African law require a fleet safety officer?

No. Neither the OHS Act nor the Construction Regulations create a "fleet safety officer" role. Regulation 8(5) of the Construction Regulations requires a contractor to appoint a construction health and safety officer where the size of the project or the risks on site make one necessary, and that person must be competent and registered with the SACPCMP. Separately, section 16(2) lets the CEO assign OHS duties to others.

Does a section 16(2) appointment transfer liability away from the CEO?

No. Section 16(2) allows the CEO to assign duties "without derogating from" his or her own responsibility, and section 16(3) states the employer is not relieved of liability either. The appointment shows that duties were properly delegated, which supports a defence, but it does not remove the CEO's or the company's accountability.

What does regulation 23 say about operators of mobile plant?

Operators must be trained and competent, authorised in writing by the contractor, and hold a medical certificate of fitness issued by an occupational health practitioner in the Annexure 3 form. They must also inspect the machine at the start of each shift and record the result in a register.

Do the Construction Regulations apply on a mine?

No. Section 1(3) of the OHS Act excludes mines, mining areas and works, so construction vehicles working inside a mining area fall under the MHSA, its Chapter 8 regulations on trackless mobile machinery and the mine's codes of practice. The mine will usually inspect and authorise each machine before access.

Who is responsible when a subcontractor's machine causes an incident?

The subcontractor carries its own duties for its machines and operators, but the principal contractor controls the site and can be presumed responsible for a mandatary's acts under section 37 unless a written section 37(2) agreement is in place and reasonable steps were taken. That is why principal contractors check subcontractor documents before granting site access.