Workplace health hazards remain one of the most significant and preventable causes of occupational disease in South Africa. SMI Analytical Laboratory provides comprehensive occupational health sampling and analytical services designed to protect employees, satisfy legislative requirements, and give employers the documented evidence they need to manage workplace risks. Operating from our Pretoria laboratory, we serve the mining, construction, manufacturing, quarrying, ceramics, and chemical processing sectors across all nine provinces.
Our team analyses air, dust, and environmental samples collected by occupational hygienists or submitted directly by health and safety officers. We apply internationally recognised methods aligned with South African legislation, including the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 (OHS Act) and the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 (MHSA), to give you results you can use in compliance reports, baseline surveys, and continuous monitoring programmes.
Why Choose SMI Analytical? Rapid turnaround, validated analytical methods, and results in plain-language reports that your health and safety team can act on immediately. We cover respirable dust, crystalline silica, total inhalable dust, metal fumes, coal dust, asbestos fibres, and a broad range of airborne chemical contaminants.
South African employers face a clear statutory duty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 to identify, evaluate, and control workplace hazards. The Act, together with its subsidiary regulations — including the Hazardous Chemical Substances (HCS) Regulations and the General Safety Regulations — requires that occupational exposure measurements be conducted at regular intervals wherever employees may be exposed to chemical or physical agents above action levels.
The Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996 imposes similar and in many respects more stringent requirements on the mining industry, mandating occupational hygiene surveys, dust monitoring programmes, and audiometric testing as conditions of a mine's operational certificate. The Mining Charter adds transformation-linked obligations around occupational health and the elimination of silicosis and occupational lung disease in the sector.
In addition, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) maintains technical standards — most notably SANS 1600 series and selected ISO standards adopted as SANS equivalents — governing sampling methods, filter media, pump calibration, and laboratory analysis. SMI Analytical aligns all sampling and analysis protocols with these requirements so that your records stand up to inspection by a Department of Employment and Labour inspector or a DMRE mine inspector.
The HCS Regulations prescribe Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) expressed as 8-hour time-weighted averages (TWA) and short-term exposure limits (STELs). Common limits relevant to our clients include:
Exceeding these limits requires immediate intervention — engineering controls, administrative controls, or personal protective equipment — and must be documented in a risk register. SMI Analytical reports always indicate clearly whether results are below, at, or above the applicable OEL, enabling swift decision-making by your health and safety representative.
Dust monitoring is the cornerstone of any occupational health programme in mining, quarrying, tunnelling, or any industry involving grinding, blasting, crushing, drilling, or the handling of bulk mineral materials. Airborne dust particles in the respirable size range (below 10 μm aerodynamic diameter) penetrate deep into the lung where they cannot be cleared by normal mucociliary action, causing progressive and irreversible lung disease including silicosis, pneumoconiosis, and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.
SMI Analytical receives pre-weighed filter cassettes (37 mm or 25 mm, as appropriate) exposed using calibrated personal sampling pumps or area sampler units. Filters are weighed on our analytical balance under controlled temperature and humidity conditions, and results are expressed in mg/m³ based on sample volume. Where crystalline silica analysis is required in addition to gravimetric mass, the filter is forwarded to XRD analysis — see our silica dust analysis service for details.
Filter cassettes worn by individual workers during a full shift to determine personal breathing zone exposure. Required for demonstrating OEL compliance under the HCS Regulations and MHSA.
Fixed-point samplers positioned in work zones to characterise the general dust environment. Useful for engineering control evaluation, baseline surveys, and change-management assessments.
IOM or 7-hole samplers capture inhalable-fraction dust (up to 100 μm) for assessment of systemic hazards such as soluble metals, wood dust, grain dust, and flour dust.
Gravimetric analysis of respirable coal dust with optional total carbon or ash content determination, supporting compliance under the MHSA Coal Mines Regulations.
Beyond particulate dust, many industrial workplaces generate airborne chemical contaminants — solvent vapours, metal fumes, acid mists, welding fumes, isocyanates, and process-specific chemicals — that require systematic air quality testing to protect worker health. South African employers in sectors as diverse as automotive manufacturing, surface coating, electronics assembly, and food processing are required to demonstrate that exposures remain within the OELs listed in the HCS Regulations Annexure 1.
SMI Analytical offers gravimetric and chemical analysis of workplace air samples collected on a variety of substrates: mixed-cellulose ester (MCE) filters, PTFE membrane filters, activated charcoal tubes, silica gel tubes, and impingers filled with appropriate trapping solutions. Our in-house capabilities include:
All methods are validated and traceable to certified reference standards. We participate in proficiency testing schemes to confirm ongoing analytical accuracy and provide method detection limits (MDLs) and measurement uncertainty values with every report.
SMI Analytical functions as the analytical backbone for occupational hygienists, health and safety officers, and occupational health nurses across South Africa. We do not conduct on-site sampling ourselves — our role is to receive field-collected samples and provide fast, accurate laboratory results that feed into the occupational health programme managed by your qualified professional team.
The following occupational health activities typically require our laboratory support:
Important: Occupational health sampling should be planned and supervised by a registered occupational hygienist (SAIOH-registered or equivalent). SMI Analytical provides laboratory analysis only. If you require a full on-site occupational hygiene service including pump calibration, worker selection, sample collection, and a formal hygiene report, we can refer you to registered hygienists who regularly use our laboratory services.
Silica exposure monitoring is the highest-priority occupational health obligation for South African mines, quarries, stone-cutting operations, construction sites involving concrete grinding or sandblasting, and ceramic or refractory manufacturers. Silicosis — the irreversible fibrotic lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica — remains a major cause of occupational death in South Africa despite decades of regulatory effort, and the government has committed under the 2012 Settlement Agreement and subsequent Mine Health and Safety Council strategies to eliminate new silicosis cases.
Our silica analysis programme begins with gravimetric weighing of the respirable dust fraction collected on the filter. The filter is then analysed by XRD to quantify quartz, cristobalite, and tridymite individually. Where XRD results are below detection limit, we apply correction factors and report the result as a less-than value with stated MDL. Full details of our silica testing approach are described on our dedicated respirable silica dust analysis page.
Results are reported as mg/m³ of crystalline silica for direct comparison with the applicable OEL. Where clients require the percentage silica content of the dust (for risk-banding purposes), we provide this as an additional calculated value. Reports are formatted to include the information required by the MHSA sampling regulations, including pump flow rate, sampling duration, filter tare and gross weights, sample volume, and the applicable OEL.
Submitting samples to SMI Analytical is straightforward. Our process is designed to minimise chain-of-custody risk, ensure sample integrity, and get your results back as quickly as possible.
The following prices are indicative and subject to change. Volume discounts apply for 10 or more samples submitted simultaneously. All prices exclude VAT at 15% and courier/delivery charges.
| Service | Description | Price (ZAR) |
|---|---|---|
| Gravimetric dust analysis — single sample | Tare and gross weighing of pre-exposed filter. Respirable or inhalable fraction. Result in mg/m³. | R 850 – R 1,200 |
| Respirable silica (XRD) — single sample | Gravimetric mass + XRD quartz/cristobalite/tridymite quantification on same filter. | R 1,400 – R 1,900 |
| Silica monitoring programme — up to 10 samples | Gravimetric + XRD on 10 filters. Includes consolidated compliance report with OEL comparison. | R 9,500 – R 14,000 |
| Metals in airborne dust (ICP-OES) — per sample | Acid digest of filter + ICP-OES for up to 20 elements (Fe, Pb, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd, As, Cu, Zn, etc.). | R 1,800 – R 2,600 |
| Asbestos fibre count (PCM) | Phase-contrast microscopy fibre count per filter. Result in f/ml. | R 1,200 – R 1,700 |
| Comprehensive workplace air quality survey | Multi-parameter programme: gravimetric + XRD silica + ICP metals + acid anions. Up to 20 samples. Full hygiene report. | R 22,000 – R 35,000 |
| Expedited turnaround surcharge | 2–3 working day turnaround instead of standard 5–7 days. | +25% on analytical fee |
* Prices are indicative. Obtain a formal quotation for your specific requirements. Volume discounts and annual contract rates are available for regular clients. Payment by EFT; 30-day terms available for approved accounts.
Contact our laboratory team today to discuss your sampling requirements, confirm filter media specifications, and receive a formal quotation within 24 hours.
Contact SMI AnalyticalBeyond the moral imperative to protect employees from preventable illness, regular occupational health sampling delivers concrete commercial benefits. A single silicosis or occupational asthma claim can trigger Compensation Commissioner (COID) assessments, class-action litigation, and reputational damage that far exceeds the cost of a systematic monitoring programme. The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) and the associated Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases (MBOD) maintain long-term records of dust exposure and disease claims, and employers with incomplete monitoring records face difficulty defending liability claims even years after the exposure occurred.
A well-documented occupational health sampling programme also supports:
SMI Analytical understands that accurate, timely laboratory results are not merely a regulatory checkbox — they are the foundation of a genuine commitment to worker health and business sustainability. Our clients across Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, and the Northern Cape rely on us for the analytical certainty that underpins their occupational health programmes.