GENERAL REGULATIONS PROMULGATED IN TERMS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1919

Published under Government Notice No. 180 of 10 February 1967

The Minister of Health has by virtue of the powers vested in him by sections 112, 115, 132 and 157 of the Public Health Act, 1919 (Act No. 36 of 1919), made the following general health regulations as set out below: -

GENERAL HEALTH REGULATIONS

Definitions

  1. In these regulations, unless inconsistent with the context -

"abattoir" includes all buildings, kraals, pens, sites and open spaces situated within the boundaries of the premises provided for the slaughtering of any bovine, calf, sheep, lamb, goat, pig or any other animal or bird intended for human consumption;

"animal" means a mule, ass, horse, donkey, foal, piglet, bovine, calf, sheep, lamb, goat or kid;

"approved" means as approved by the Regional Director;

"article of food" or "food" or "foodstuff" means any part of an animal, poultry or any product prepared therefrom, and includes fish, fruit and vegetables, condiments, confectionery, bread, beverages and any other article or thing (excluding medicine or water but including ice) in any form, state or stage of preparation, which is intended or ordinarily used for human consumption;

"bakery" means any premises where bread, bread rolls, cake or confectionery is prepared to be sold or to be offered for sale;

"butcher" means any person or company or firm in possession of or required to be in possession of a butcher’s licence issued in terms of the relevant Act;

"butcher’s meat" means the carcass, or meat, or offal of any bovine, calf, sheep, lamb, goat, pig or any other quadruped or bird intended for human consumption, but shall not include canned meat;

"butchery" means any premises used for the sale of butcher’s meat and for keeping, storing, preparing or exposing butcher’s meat intended for sale, or used in any other way for the purpose of a butcher’s business and includes the shop and associated rooms;

"camping" means the erection or use of any temporary structure intended for temporary use by persons for dwelling or sleeping purposes, and includes the erection or use of tents intended for such purposes, but not the parking or use of any caravan;

"camping ground" means any premises on which any temporary or removable structure, including a tent but excluding a caravan, intended for temporary use by persons for dwelling or sleeping purposes is erected or used or intended to be erected or used;

"caravan" means any vehicle or similar structure which is capable of being moved or removed or towed and which has no foundation other than wheels or jacks and is designed or built in such a manner that persons may use such vehicle or structure for dwelling or sleeping purposes, and includes (without prejudice to the definition) any mobile house or trailer or travelling trailer;

"caravan park" means any premises offering accommodation for two or more caravans or intended for such accommodation, whether or not any charge is made for such accommodation;

"caravan space" means any piece of land or any allotment within any caravan park, appointed or used or intended for the accommodation of one caravan;

"carrier" has the meaning assigned thereto in regulation 1 promulgated by Government Notice No. R.548 dated 7th April 1966;

"hawker" means an itinerant retailer in one or more kinds of wares which may include frsh produce and foodstuffs. The words "pedlar" or "vendor" have the same meaning;

"holder of a certificate of registration" means any person registered by the local authority under the relevant provisions of these regulations;

"hotel, boarding-house and lodging-house" means any premises where board or lodging is provided on a profit basis for more than five persons and includes associated buildings and recreational facilities on such premises;

"lighted" in relation to any room or place in which any person dwells or works or where any food or beverage for human consumption is sold or prepared for sale, means that the total unobstructed window area, at least half of which shall be capable of opening, shall not be less than one-tenth of the floor area of such room or place; and, in relation to any room or place in which food or any other thing is stored or kept, that the total unobstructed window area shall be not less than one-twelfth of the floor area of such room or place;

"local authority" means a magistrate acting in terms of section 9 of the Public Health Act;

"meat product" means any product made of butcher’s meat with spices and condiments, with or without farinaceous or other vegetable substances;

"mileage" means a rate of 10 cents per mile covered by the inspecting officer, calculated from and back to the magistrate’s office or Bantu Affairs Commissioner’s office or police station nearest the premises in respect of which a certificate of fitness has been applied for. Should it be necessary for the inspecting officer to inspect several premises for the purpose of a certificate of fitness in the course of one trip, mileage shall be calculated for each of the applicants concerned on an approved pro rata basis;

"milk" means the milk obtained from a cow and includes "sour milk" marketed as such, as well as skim-milk, separated milk and buttermilk but not colostrum, cream or powdered milk or condensed milk in hermetically sealed containers;

"overcrowded", in relation to any room or place where any person works or dwells, means that there is less than 40sq. feet of floor space and less than 40 cubic feet or air space for each occupier over the age of 10 years and at least half of this space for each occupier younger than 10 years, except any room or place covered by the provisions of the Bantu Labour Act, 1964, or regulations made thereunder, in which case the provisions of the said Act and regulations shall apply; and "overcrowding" shall have a corresponding meaning;

"poultry" means a duck, muscovy duck, fowl, goose or turkey;

"Regional Director" means any Regional Director of State Health Services or any Assistant Regional Director of State Health Services;

"restaurant" means any premises where any article of food is prepared for selling purposes or offered for sale to be consumed on or in such premises and where accommodation is provided for this purpose;

"rodent-proof" has the meaning assigned thereto in regulation 29a) and (b) promulgated by Government Notice No. R.1411 dated 23 September 1966;

"structure" means any stable, lean-to, pigsty, kraal, covering or building used for the keeping, sheltering or enclosing of animals;

"swimming-bath" means any premises where swimming-bath facilities are provided for the public at a charge and includes the associated buildings and also relates to any swimming-bath forming part of the recreational facilities of any hotel, boarding-house or lodging-house; and "keeper of a swimming-bath" has a corresponding meaning;

"tea-room" means any premises where tea, coffee or any similar beverage, cold drinks or mineral water, ice cream, sweets, confectionary or any other prepared light refreshment not cooked on such premises are sold or offered for sale for consumption on such premises and where accommodation is provided on such premises for this purpose;

"ventilate" in relation to any room or place where any food or beverages is kept or prepapred for human consumption, or where any person works or dwells, means that such room or place is ventilated by one or more windows opening directly to the outer air and capable of opening entirely or partly and so placed as to make an effective through-draught or cross-ventilation possible.

Any other expression in these regulations unless the context otherwise indicates, has the same meaning as that assigned thereto in the Public Health Act, 1919 (Act No. 36 of 1919). The Regional Director shall decide for the purpose of these regulations on the meaning of "proper", "effective", "sufficient", "suitable", "adequate", or "satisfactory".

Scope of regulations

  1. These regulations shall apply to every area of the Republic where the magistrate is the "local authority" in terms of section 9 of the Public Health Act, 1919, excluding Bantu areas, namely scheduled area, as described in the Schedule to the Bantu Land Act, 1913(Act No. 27 of 1913), and land in released areas as described in the Bantu Trust and Land Act, 1936 (Act No. 18 of 1936), of which the Trust or a Bantu is the registered owner, or which has been registered in the name of the minister of bantu Administration and Development or any other person in trust for a Bantu, a bantu tribe or a Bantu community, or which is registered in the name of a deceased bantu.

PART I
Premises and dwellings

Note: Part I (regulations 3 to 13) of the regulations was deleted by the Regulations relating the Milking Sheds and the Transport of Milk published under Government Notice No. 1256 of 27 June 1986, as amended

PART II
Removal of night-soil, refuse etc

  1. No person shall deposit or cause or allow to be deposited any refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure or any offensive matter or liquid in or on or near any street, public thoroughfare, proclaimed or public road, public place or common land so as to be offensive or a nuisance or injurious to health, or to promote the breeding of flies and mosquitoies, or to harbour rodents.

  2. (1) No person who removes or causes or allows to be removed from any premises or along any road, public thoroughfare, proclaimed or public road or from any public place or common land any refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure or offensive matter or liquid shall in the process of removal deposit or cause or allow to be deposited any such refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure, offensive matter or liquid in or on any such street, public thoroughfare, proclaimed or public road, public place or common land so as to be offensive, or a nuisance, or injurious or dangerous to health or liable to be offensive, or a nuisance, or injurious or dangerous to health.

(2) For the purpose of such removal a suitable container, receptacle or vehicle so used or contrived or furnished with a suitable covering as to prevent the contents thereof from spilling or falling out, shall be used in every case.

(3) If in the process of such removal any person spills or drops or causes or allows to be spilt or dropped in or on any street, public thoroughfare, proclaimed or public road, public place, or common land and such refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure, offensive matter or liquid, he shall immediately remove or cause to be removed from the place where it was split or dropped all such refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure, offensive matter or liquid and shall immediately thereafter thoroughly clean such place.

(4) Nothing contained in these regulations shall be deemed to prohibit the dumping of any refuse, night-soil, litter, waste, manure, offensive matter or liquid in any place specially set apart by the local authority for that purpose, in such an approved manner as not to be offensive, or a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health.

  1. No person shall cause or allow any offensive liquid to flow either above or below the surface of the ground or through the soil from his premises onto any public thoroughfare, proclaimed or public road, public place, or common land or into any stream, water course or water furrow.

PART III
Pollution of water

  1. No person shall deposit in or cause or allow to be deposited in or cause or allow to enter or to discharge into any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use, any matter, liquid or thing which is infectious or in injurious to man: Provided that the addition to such water supply of liquids or other substances used by the local authority to combat snails, insects, pathogenic organisms, etc., which may spread diseases or cause a nuisance shall not be excluded hereby.

  2. (1) No person shall so add or cause to allow to be so added any infectious, offensive or noxious matter, effluent, fluid or thing to any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use, as to be a nuisance or a danger to health.

(2) No person shall so keep or cause or allow to be so kept any animal or bird by the side of, or in immediate proximity to, any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use, as to cause pollution of such water or to be a nuisance or dangerous to health.

  1. No person shall cause or allow any animal or bird to enter or in any other way pollute any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use, so as to pollute such water or render it liable to pollution in such a manner as to be a nuisance or a danger to health.

  2. No person shall bathe, or wash or cause or allow to be washed any garment or any other article or animal in or in any place which drains into, any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use as drinking water or for domestic purposes (whether or not such water supply is derived from sources within or outside such district): Provided that these regulations shall not apply in the case of any stream, water course or water furrow -

  1. the water from which is not used as drinking water or for domestic purposes at any place less than one mile below the place in the stream, water course or water furrow where washing or bathing takes place;

  2. at places where washing or bathing usually takes place, unless prominent notice boards prohibiting bathing and washing, or bathing only, or washing only, in the entire stream, water course, water furrow, or in a defined portion thereof, have been placed by the local authority at or near such places.

  1. No person shall take or cause or allow to be taken water from any water supply which the public within the district of the local authority has a right to use and does use, in such a manner that such water is polluted or liable to be polluted, so as to be a nuisance or a danger to health.

PART IV
The keeping of animals and poultry

  1. No person shall so keep or cause or allow to be so kept any animal or poultry as to be offensive or a nuisance or injurious or dangerous to health.

  2. Except where such an arrangement already exists at the coming into operation of these regulations, no person shall without the prior permission in writing of the local authority keep any animal or poultry in any structure within a distance of 50 feet of any dwelling or public building or of any road or street boundary. Such structure shall at all times be kept thoroughly clean. No part of such structure shall be under the same roof as, or form part of, any wall of any dwelling or public building.

  3. (1) Any person wishing to erect a building, stable or lean-to shall submit in advance to the Regional Director a plan of the site indicating the surrounding buildings, water supplies and sanitary conveniences, as well as a proper sketch plan in duplicate and all the relevant particulars of the proposed building, stable or lean-to.

(2) Any persons who owns or occupies any premises on which a building or stable or lean-to is to be erected shall to the satisfaction of the local authority provide such building or stable or lean-to with the following: -

  1. (i) An effective roof of impervious material:
    (ii) a sloping floor of impervious material which drains effectively;
    (iii) adequate drainage;
    (iv) suitable and adequate facilities for the collection and disposal of all manure or refuse;
    (v) an adequate and wholesome water supply; and
    (vi) in the case of any stable or building, sufficient lighting and ventilation.
     

  2. Walls, which up to the anchor plates of every building, stable or lean-to shall be -

  1. eight feet high in the case of a pitched roof;

  2. not less than ten feet high in the case of a flat roof which shall have a slope of not less than 15 degrees;

  3. on an average ten feet high with a minimum of eight feet at the lower end in the case of a roof of the lean-to type.

Such building, stable or lean-to shall at all times be maintained in good repair.

  1. When in the opinion of the local authority any animal or poultry kept on any premises, whether or not such premises have been approved by the local authority in terms of these regulations, is a nuisance or danger to health, the local authority may order the owner or occupier of such premises by notice in writing to remove the cause of such nuisance or danger to health or to abate such nuisance or danger and to do such work or thing as the local authority may deem necessary for this purpose within a reasonable period to be specified in the notice. Should any owner or occupier fail to comply with any or all of the requirements of such notice within the specified time, the local authority may immediately prohibit the keeping of any animal or poultry on such premises and such owner or occupier shall be guilty of an offence.

  2. Any person keeping any animal or poultry shall not allow the accumulation of any manure or filth so as to cause any nuisance or danger to health. Any person maintaining any structure in which any manure or stable filth may accumulate shall ensure that such manure or stable filth is removed therefrom daily and so disposed of as not to cause any nuisance or danger to health. The provisions of this regulation shall not exclude the application of stable manure to cultivated lands for fertilising purposes.

PART V
Butcheries

Note:Part V (regulations 27 to 36) of the regulations was deleted by the Regulations regarding the Standards to which and Requirements with which Processing Areas, Facilities, Apparatus and Equipment where or in which or with which food, intended for use by the Final Consumer, is Processed, Handled or Prepared for Purposes of Sale to the Public, shall conform under Government Notice No. 185 of 30 January 1987, as amended. Note further that R. 185 of 30 January 1987 was later replaced by Government Notice No. R. 918 of 30 July 1999 (Regulations governing General Hygiene Requirements for Food Premises and the Transport of Food)

PART VI
Transportation of meat

  1. Every butcher shall at his own expense provide a suitable vehicle used exclusively for the transportation and delivery of meat or meat products and shall at all times keep the said vehicle in a clean condition and further so maintain it that meat and other butcher’s products transported or delivered therein are not contaminated by flies, dust, filth, impurity or any other injurious matter or thing.

  2. (1) Every vehicle used for the transportation of butcher’s meat from the abattoir to any butchery, market, public place or any place where the meat is to be sold, exposed or offered to the public for sale shall be lined with a suitable impervious jointless material which shall be capable of being cleaned easily, and shall further be so contrived that -

  1. all carcasses or parts thereof may hang from a crossbeam with stainless steel hooks fitted at such a height that, if suspended therefrom, no part of any carcass touches the floor of the vehicle;

  2. all meat is properly protected from dust and flies.

(2) No tarpaulins or cloths shall be allowed in or on the vehicle.

(3) The vehicle shall be furnished with a removable rust-proof box of impervious material with a tight-fitting lid, in which the heads, trotters and washed entrails of the animals slaughtered at the abattoir may be transported.

(4) The box as well as the body of the vehicle and associated parts shall be clean when meat is loaded therein; when the meat has been delivered, the box as well as the inferior surfaces of the body of the vehicle and associated parts shall be washed thoroughly to remove all impurities, if necessary with hot water, soap or detergent.

(5) No offal, hides or refuse shall be transported in any vehicle together with meat intended for human consumption.

(6) No person shall sit, lie or stand on any carcass or part thereof.

  1. (1) Every person concerned in the handling or transportation of butcher’s meat shall be provided by the butcher with clean sound overalls and head coverings of a light colour. At the beginning of each shift, or more frequently, should it appear necessary, porters shall be provided by the butcher with suitable, clean hooded capes.

(2) At the end of each shift, every porter shall take his overall, head covering and cape to the change-room so that they may be cleaned.

(3) Overalls, head coverings and capes shall be worn for one shift only, after which the butcher shall have them cleaned and sterilised.

(4) No person who is a "carrier" of any disease referred to in regulation 6493), or who is suffering from any infectious disease or has on his body any suppurating sore shall handle or transport meat. Should the butcher suspect that one of his employees handling or transporting meat is suffering from any disease in a communicable form or is the "carrier" of such disease, he shall immediately notify the local authority accordingly.

PART VII
Supply of milk

Note: Part VII (regulations 40 to 68) of the regulations was deleted by the Regulations relating the Milking Sheds and the Transport of Milk published under Government Notice No. 1256 of 27 June 1986, as amended

PART VII
Restaurants, refreshment rooms or tea-rooms, eating-houses, etc

Note: Part VIII (regulations 69 to 99) of the regulations was deleted by the Regulations regarding the Standards to which and Requirements with which Processing Areas, Facilities, Apparatus and Equipment where or in which or with which food, intended for use by the Final Consumer, is Processed, Handled or Prepared for Purposes of Sale to the Public, shall conform under Government Notice No. 185 of 30 January 1987, as amended. Note further that R. 185 of 30 January 1987 was later replaced by Government Notice No. R. 918 of 30 July 1999 (Regulations governing General Hygiene Requirements for Food Premises and the Transport of Food)

PART IX
Hotels, boarding-houses and lodging-houses