Sandvik Mining marks 2.5m man-hours without injury
The Vice-President of Sandvik Mining and Construction, Mr Nuhu Salifu, has appealed to workers in the mining industry to observe a high level of safety measures when working.
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Although it was the responsibility of companies to ensure the safety of its employees, he said, the onus lay on the workers to ensure their safety first.
That, he said, would go a long way to minimise the spate of accidents recorded in the industry.
Mr Salifu made this appeal at the celebration of the company’s achievements at Pakyi No. 1, near Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
Achievements
The vice-president said Sandvik Mining and Construction had operated in the last four years without recording accidents.
This means the West African operations of the company, which include legal entities in Ghana, Nigeria and Mali, have worked for 2.5 million man-hours without a Lost Time Injury (LTI).
According to Mr Salifu, these achievements had been chalked up over the years due to the measures the company had put in place over the years to ensure the safety of its workers.
Safety measures
Mr Salifu explained that the LTI also meant that employees of the company had been working for the past four years without any accidents or absenteeism.
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That, he said, was due to the high safety measures observed by the company which had earned it a lot of admiration.
“As a company, we consider the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) as key to the general growth and development of the organisation. That is why our vision is to achieve zero harm to our people, the environment we work in, our customers and our suppliers.
“We constantly commit ourselves to building a strong EHS culture which delivers sustainable and continual improvement because we believe our quest for profitability is ‘complete only if our people are safe and the planet is protected. Concern for these ‘’3 Ps’’ spurs us on to take leadership in EHS,” he stressed.
Mr Salifu said when Sandvik West Africa recorded its last LTI in November 2012, “we resolved that incidents of that nature are avoidable and would not be allowed to happen. This was based on our firm belief that accidents do not just happen; they are caused”.
He recognised the contributions of stakeholders of the company as key to the achievement of its successes, noting that it could not succeed if it failed to observe basic EHS measures.
Initiatives
Mr Salifu also stated that over the years, a lot of initiatives had been taken to keep the workplace incident-free.
“We have built for ourselves supportive and effective management systems and processes to guide our operations as part of the key initiatives,” he noted.
He added that the company also presented itself for external audit towards the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Specification (OHSAS 18001) certification in 2015.
He emphasised the company’s commitment to intensify its safety awareness campaigns through active daily tool box meetings and weekly EHS meetings.
Through such interactions, he noted, some safety and environmental awareness had been created and major EHS concerns had been addressed.
He reminded staff of Sandvik that there was no greater value than their life, and for him, he would always ensure that employees reported and left work to their various homes unhurt.