The Care Net Method

Why your Plan holds up when it matters

A Medical Surveillance Plan is only as strong as the law behind it. Most plans are written once, copied often, and quietly go stale while the regulations move on. The Care Net Method is our answer: a maintained, versioned body of South African occupational health law that every Plan is built against, reviewed monthly, and ratified by a registered Occupational Medical Practitioner.

Three commitments sit underneath every document we release:

• Triple verification. No regulation is cited until it passes three independent checks: the primary legal text itself, a second authoritative source that corroborates it, and a currency check that confirms it is still in force and captures every amendment. A law that cannot pass all three gates never appears in your Plan.
• A legal basis for every test. Every medical assessment we prescribe carries two justifications: the workplace hazard that demands it, and the employment law rule that makes testing lawful against the inherent requirements of the job. No test without a reason; no reason without a law.
• Free reference first, clinical sign off when you need it. The report you receive from the assessment is free advice, drafted by Care Net's engine from the legislation and medical protocols in the Care Net Method. The engine is a set of rules, not a person and not a chatbot, and every citation in your report traces back to a verified instrument. Treat it as a reference guide. It is not a legal instrument and cannot be relied on in full until a registered Occupational Medical Practitioner, trained in the subject matter, has reviewed and signed it. Use the free report to plan your medicals, understand your legal requirements and the legislation behind them, and get an idea of pricing. For a signed off Plan, contact your Sales Representative for pricing.

The framework carries a version number on every release, an audit trail on every change, and a monthly review cycle that tracks the law as it moves. For example, the Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024 and the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 replaced the Noise Induced Hearing Loss Regulations, 2003 and the Environmental Regulations for Workplaces, 1987 from 6 September 2026. The Plan engine is being updated to cite the new Regulations, and every Plan is reviewed by our Occupational Medical Practitioner before release.

The law we verify, kept current

Every Plan is drafted against a maintained register of South African occupational health law. The full register, with each instrument's citation, gazette reference, verification date and next review, is read live from the framework on the legislation register. The instruments at the heart of most Plans are these:

The Plan engine is being updated to cite the Noise Exposure Regulations, 2024 and the Physical Agents Regulations, 2024 in place of the instruments they replaced, and every Plan is reviewed by our Occupational Medical Practitioner before release. Where the law is still moving, we say so rather than guess: instruments under amendment carry a review watch, and anything we cannot verify routes to our clinical team instead of into your document.

17 industries, mapped end to end

Your Plan is built from the regulatory framework for your industry, not from a generic template. Every industry below carries its own verified instrument set, its own subindustries, and its own job role library.

Is your industry not listed, or does your operation straddle more than one? Tell us in the assessment: unusual operations route to a sales executive and are mapped properly rather than forced into the nearest box.

316 job roles, each with its own risk picture

A cashier and a forklift driver in the same building need entirely different surveillance. That is why the Method maps job roles, not just industries: 316 roles across the taxonomy, each carrying its inherent physical and cognitive demands, its statutory competency requirements, and its typical hazard exposures with a rating and a reason.

When you complete the assessment, your own job categories are matched against this library, then adjusted to your actual operations: your measured exposure levels, your controls, your shift patterns. Where your measurements exceed a legal limit, the surveillance tightens. It never loosens by assumption.

Examples of what a role carries: a rock drill operator maps noise, silica dust, vibration, and underground heat, and routes dust disease surveillance through the statutory mines pathway; a contact centre agent maps night shift patterns, workstation strain, and headset acoustic exposure. Same country, same law, completely different Plans.

30 medical protocols, every one with a legal basis

These are the medical assessments the Method can prescribe. Each carries a baseline examination, a periodic interval of twelve months or shorter unless the law itself allows longer, an exit examination that is never omitted, and the legal instrument that anchors it.

• Audiometry
• Spirometry
• Respiratory symptom questionnaire
• Chest X ray per silica protocol
• Dust disease examination battery for mine workers
• Blood lead biological monitoring
• Lead exposure clinical examination
• Biological monitoring for specific chemical agents
• Occupational chemical exposure medical assessment
• Cholinesterase monitoring for pesticide exposure
• Dermatological screen
• Heights medical with vertigo and balance screen
• Confined space medical
• Heat stress tolerance assessment
• Heat tolerance screening for hot underground workings
• Vibration and musculoskeletal screen
• Musculoskeletal and ergonomic assessment
• Night work medical examination
• PrDP statutory medical and vision screen
• Lifting machine operator certificate of fitness
• Mine certificate of fitness examination
• Railway safety critical fitness examination
• General medical for electrical work
• Vision screening with colour vision and UV skin surveillance
• Radiation worker surveillance with dose monitoring
• Occupational tuberculosis screening
• Hepatitis B immunity verification and vaccination pathway
• Biological agent surveillance per written medical protocol
• Zoonosis surveillance per written medical protocol
• Food handler fitness assessment

Care Net screens fitness for work; we do not diagnose. Findings and referrals rest with the reviewing Occupational Medical Practitioner, and the employer is always the payer, in line with HPCSA guidance.

See it work