STAR – Safety, Teamwork, Accountability, Respect, – the foundation for every single stone Namdeb mines
Namdeb Chief Executive, Riaan Burger pledged his personal commitment to safety at a training workshop conducted earlier this month. Called a Safety Omugongo, this was the second session for this year.
Safety became one of Namdeb’s driving motivators after the company had two unforeseen fatalities in 2001. This lead to a comprehensive overhaul of all operational procedures with Zero Harm as the main goal. In the meantime, safety was taken to the next level with the company awarded the so-called OHSAS 18001, an industry safety accreditation, in 2012. This safety rating has been retained ever since.
The second 2018 Safety Omugongo was attended by all employees at management level. “The session forms part of Namdeb’s journey to embed behaviour-based safety and living the value of Putting Safety First across the business,” the company stated.
The topics discussed included Re-energizing Safety as Namdeb’s first Value; the role of leadership in driving behaviour-based safety in the workplace and reviewing some of the safety changes since the first safety Omugongo session which was held in February this year. The Omugongo also included an interactive workshop focusing on reviewing Priority Unwanted Events and related controls effectiveness.
Burger, opened the session by encouraging everyone to take personal commitment to ensure safety at all times. “It is important that we take personal responsibility for ourselves and our colleagues to achieve a safe working environment for everyone,” he said.
The Omugongo was coordinated by Gert Muller and Sonja van Kradenburg from Namdeb’s Technical Services department. Feedback from the discussions is used continuously to improve all safety systems and ultimately to reach the Zero Harm working environment for all employees.
Safety, Teamwork, Accountability, Respect, these four elements, collectively referred to by the acronym STAR, is the foundation for all aspects of operations, the company stated. It is extended to all stakeholders as well as to the sensitive environment in which Namdeb mines.
