Fit to Work, Fit to Drive.

End of year fatigue is real. People are tired and short with each other, and the workers arriving at our doors are no different. Please be understanding with them, and we will be understanding with you. Tired people make mistakes, and the whole point of what we do together is to catch those before they reach the site.

September and October are among our busiest months of the year. If your medicals can wait, book for November. If they cannot, afternoons are quieter once the morning traffic has died down. And a mobile clinic on your site remains the option with the least production loss. If you cannot wait at all, use these options and tell your sales consultant it is urgent. We want you to experience the best service we can give, and we will be truthful with you about the queue.

I am also thankful. We are blessed with clients like you, and a full clinic in October is the proof that you trust us before you wind down another year. Can you believe another one is almost gone? Your five star reviews carry our staff through months like this one. We read every one and we repost them. Keep them coming. And if something is not right, use Speak Out. A director, from Sales, from Operations, or I myself, will resolve it.

Why your medicals are taking a little longer

The new Noise Exposure Regulations and their Code of Practice for Audiometry now govern every hearing test we do. They ask for more data, captured in a prescribed way, on upgraded systems. We have rebuilt our audiometry and spirometry software to comply, and our teams are still getting used to it. That takes a few extra minutes per worker, and we ask for your patience. It is to the benefit of your company: a hearing test done the old way may not stand up when an inspector or a compensation claim asks for it. If you use another provider, ask them to show you their compliance. We explain the regulations in plain terms further down.

We are not a service provider. We are your partner.

We are seeing more and more fraud on our certificates, and we ask every client to verify each Certificate of Fitness before a worker is allowed on site. Every certificate now carries the worker's photograph, and each one can be verified on My Clinic Online in seconds.

We have appointed an independent investigator to find the companies, employees and other people involved. We know the sites where this happens. Anyone who took part in fraud will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Please do not find yourself asking us to be kind after the fact.

We do not fight fraud with bribery. Nobody is paid for information. If you freely bring us information that leads to a criminal charge, arrest and conviction of a person, employee or company, a R10 000 reward is paid on that conviction, after the matter has been investigated and charged. Report through fraud@carenetconsultants.co.za.

Barteld Bakker, Founder and Managing Director

What changed. The Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024 were published under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in Government Gazette 52226 on 6 March 2025, together with a new Code of Practice for Audiometry. They replace the Noise Induced Hearing Loss Regulations of 2003, which were repealed on 6 September 2026. From that date the new regulations are the only ones that count.

What it means for your company

• Know your noise. Where workers may be exposed at or above the noise rating limit (85 dBA over an eight hour day, or 82 dBA where there are also ototoxic chemicals or whole body vibration), a competent person must do a noise exposure risk assessment before exposure and at least every 24 months, and an approved noise inspection authority must monitor exposure at least every 24 months.
• Control it at source first. Hearing protection alone no longer satisfies the law. Elimination, engineering and administrative controls come first, and hearing protection covers what is left. Noise zones must be demarcated and nobody enters one without effective protection worn correctly.
• Train before exposure, and every year. Every exposed worker must be informed and trained by a competent person before exposure and refreshed at least annually, with the health and safety committee consulted throughout.
• Baseline, periodic and exit audiometry. A baseline test before or within 30 days of employment, periodic tests every 12 months at 85 dBA and above (every six months at 105 dBA and above), and an exit test on leaving a noise zone. Every test is done by a competent person under the Code of Practice, on a calibrated audiometer in a certified booth, and each worker gives written consent.
• Watch the shift. The Code measures a standard threshold shift against the worker's audiometric zero and a percentage loss of hearing shift against the baseline. A shift of 10 dB triggers investigation, 25 dB triggers referral for diagnostic audiology, and a 10 percent PLH shift triggers reporting to the Chief Inspector and the Compensation Commissioner. A baseline that was never properly recorded cannot be defended later.
• Keep the records for 40 years. Training, risk assessments, monitoring, medical surveillance and maintenance records must be kept for 40 years and made available to an inspector.

What to do this month. Ask for your noise assessment and your hearing conservation programme, and check the date on each. Confirm that every worker exposed to noise has a baseline on file. Then ask whoever does your audiometry to show you their competence, calibration and booth certificates. If they cannot, the test may not stand.

Download the legislation

The regulations and the Code of Practice for Audiometry in one clean document, to read and keep on file.

National Transport Month: fit to drive

October is National Transport Month. Fatigue is a hazard like any other, and it shows first in the people who drive. A driver fitness assessment looks at vision, hearing, blood pressure, blood sugar and the medical history that affects safe driving, and it should be repeated at the interval your risk assessment sets, not only when a licence is renewed. Keep the outcome on file, and if a driver tells you they are exhausted, treat that as a report, not a complaint.

This section is general guidance for employers and is not a diagnosis or a substitute for a medical assessment.

Non diagnostic notice. The health information in this newsletter is educational. It does not diagnose any condition and does not replace an assessment by an occupational health practitioner. Fitness decisions for any worker are made by a registered practitioner on the basis of an assessment.