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Unisa and SHECASA promote institutional health and safety

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Johannes Bopape

On 4 September 2025, Unisa, in collaboration with the Safety, Health and Environmental Campus Association of South Africa (SHECASA), hosted the 8th SHECASA Conference, aimed at empowering safety and health and environment (SHE) professionals to fulfil their role in ensuring legal compliance and best practices in institutions of higher learning. Spearheaded by Unisa’s Vice-Principal of Operations and Facilities, Matsiababa Motebele, the conference highlighted the national laws governing occupational health and safety and environmental management, ensuring a fruitful engagement between SHECASA and participating institutions of higher learning.

In his welcome address, Johannes Bopape, Unisa's Acting Deputy Director of Governance, Reporting and Support, said that South African tertiary institutions have had informal engagements on the SHE issues. He added: "These engagements ultimately led to the establishment of SHECASA. The association’s establishment is aligned with Section 16(1) of the South African Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, which indicates that heads of organisations must ensure the provision and maintenance of safe working environments."

For Bopape, the success of SHECASA relies on the support and collective responsibility of the university community. He also highlighted that the conference aligns with strategic areas around engaged scholarship and community engagement. "This event follows our recent hosting of the 2025 World Day for Safety and Health at Work," he added. The preceding event was held under the theme Revolutionising health and safety: The role of AI and digitalisation at work. It formed part of a global awareness campaign, equally intended to promote and create a health and safety culture, and to reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries.

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Dale Kennedy

Keynote speaker, Dale Kennedy, South Africa’s first certified professional ergonomist, focused on the importance of conducting ergonomic risk assessments in the workplace. He remarked: "The aim of conducting these assessments is to identify and analyse potential hazards in the workplace and to optimise human health." Kennedy reiterated that risk assessment in the workplace must be conducted by focusing on physical, cognitive and organisational ergonomics.

Differentiating, Kennedy said that physical ergonomics focuses on the body’s response to the job, whereas cognitive ergonomics centres on the processing of information. "Further," he continued, "organisational ergonomics is designed to provide information about movement through the roster, management of risk, and the way people behave in certain environments, organisational structure, and management style."

Also, Kennedy cautioned that the ergonomics programme becomes effective when the organisations’ internal structures, such as occupational hygiene, employee wellness, and occupational health and safety, are prioritised.

Robert Randolph, Technical Director at Apex Environment and a registered occupational hygienist, centred his presentation around asbestos and the safety standards thereof. Other insightful presentations focused on safety at sport and recreational events, assessing the efficiency of SHE management systems in the university setting, and OHS for students with disabilities in institutions of higher learning.

* By William Thubakgale, Communications Division, Department of Institutional Advancement

** Photography by Lehlohonolo Mokhohlouloane, SHECASA President

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Publish date: 2025-09-09 00:00:00.0

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