Prompting Like a Saffa

Most AI tools sound like robots or legal manuals. We built something different. Prompting Like a Saffa is powered by Melly — an AI Safety Assistant that speaks like your team actually talks. Whether it’s petrol attendants, retail workers, or site crew, Melly understands local slang, responds with usable documents, and cuts admin time to zero.

Inspiration

We saw a gap: AI wasn’t accessible to everyday workers in high-risk industries like retail, fuel, and construction. Most AI is too formal, too foreign, and doesn’t connect. So we trained Melly on real OHS documents and gave her a voice — one that speaks South African slang, gets the job done, and delivers in seconds.

What it does

It’s an AI-powered assistant (Melly) that:

• Converts casual or local-language prompts into real OHS documents
• Generates fire drill plans, toolbox talks, PPE guidelines, and risk assessments
• Delivers downloads instantly — no LMS, no subscriptions
• Understands South African slang and workplace culture
• Works across mobile and desktop with real-world deployment at https://ohshaven.com ## How we built it GPT-4o + custom prompt engineering for slang-to-doc generation
  
• Framer to design the full working website (multi-page with animations)
  
• Netlify for domain control (ohshaven.com)
  
• Google Drive to load our custom OHS library
  
• ElevenLabs for Melly's voice personality
  
• Canva for branded posters, training cards, and lanyards
  
• Gemini CLI support for testing automation steps ## Challenges we ran into Translating slang into functional prompts
• Balancing humor + compliance (without losing credibility)
• Mobile responsiveness under tight time
• Building a working product — not just a mockup — in record time ## Accomplishments that we're proud of Built a fully working AI product — not just a prototype
• Used real industry data from fuel stations, retail, and construction
• Designed a fun but compliant character: Melly, the first South African AI safety assistant
• Created a slang-to-safety engine that translates informal language into usable compliance tools
• Launched https://ohshaven.com with a custom domain and functioning navigation
• Blended creativity, safety, culture, and automation into one project ## What we learned Localization matters more than hype
• Simplicity beats complexity when safety is on the line
• South African flavor + AI = 🔥 ## What's next for Prompting Like a Saffa Localization matters more than hype
• Simplicity beats complexity when safety is on the line
• South African flavor + AI = ......NB:“Live site launching soon — full demo available above.”

Built With

• canva
• elevenlabs
• framer
• gemini
• google-drive
• gpt-4o
• netlify