Specialist Occupational Health & Safety - 6 month contract

The GELITA Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of collagen proteins and is represented on all continents with more than 2.900 employees and 20 sites. With our global presence and expertise, we provide natural collagen protein solutions in the food, health and nutrition markets as well as in the pharmaceutical and medical industries. In addition, our products offer a wide range of exciting innovative technical applications. Guided by our GELITA Values and scientific research, we drive innovation and consistently focus on excellence, experience and customer orientation.

The Specialist Occupational Health & Safety is responsible for ensuring the workplace complies with health, safety, and environmental legislation and company standards (both local and global). The role focuses on identifying hazards, conducting risk assessments, and implementing preventative measures. They also promote a strong safety culture through training, inspections, and incident investigations.

The successful candidate will be required to:

• Ensure compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act 85 of 1993) and relevant Regulations, including Driven Machinery, General Machinery, Hazardous Chemical Agents (HCA), and General Safety Regulations.
• Conduct regular workplace inspections, hazard identification, and risk assessments (HIRA) including property risk assessment.
• Develop, implement, and maintain health and safety policies, procedures, and safe work instructions.
• Investigate incidents, accidents, and near misses, compile reports, and recommend corrective actions.
• Facilitate health and safety committee meetings and act as management’s safety representative.
• Coordinate and deliver health and safety training, inductions, and toolbox talks.
• Ensure proper PPE selection, issue, and compliance monitoring.
• Maintain statutory health and safety registers, legal appointments, MSDS/SDS files, and incident records.
• Support audits, inspections, and continuous improvement of the HSE management system.

Qualification

• NQF 7 or higher degree in Occupational Health & Safety Management
• SAMTRAC- advantage

Skills

• Strong understanding of South African health and safety legislation and regulations.
• Excellent risk assessment and problem-solving skills.
• High attention to detail with strong administrative and reporting ability.
• Confident communication and training facilitation skills across all employee levels.
• Ability to influence behaviour and promote a positive safety culture.
• Good analytical and investigation skills.
• Competent in Microsoft Office and safety reporting tools.
• Ability to work independently and handle multiple priorities under pressure.

Experience Required

• MS Excel (intermediate) and MS Office.
• Hands-on experience in a Health & Safety Officer role: 3 years
• Experience conducting risk assessments, incident investigations, and safety inspections: 3 years
• Experience facilitating internal and external safety audits: 3 years
• Experience working on ISO 18001 and ISO 45001: 3 years
• Experience in Food manufacturing- 3 years

Other:

• South African.
• Own reliable transport.
• Preferably residing within the area or 30km radius

We value the diversity of our employees and are convinced that an inclusive working environment leads to better and more sustainable results. We therefore always make our selection decisions on the basis of competence and performance, regardless of personal or socio-cultural characteristics and beliefs. We are an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Have we piqued your interest? Then we look forward to receiving your application!