22 Nov 2018

Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) issues are crucial in advancing staff wellbeing in the workplace.

This is according to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing Development, Chief Administration Officer responsible for SHE, Mr Samuel Kedise.

Speaking at the ministry’s SHE planning workshop at Mmokolodi Nature Reserve on November 20, he stated that the workplace SHE committees trace their existence to the period around 1991 when the country was feeling the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Mr Kedise stated that country’s workforce was also affected by the HIV/AIDS scourge, but could not access most of the information as they missed out on some important seminars while at work, hence the decision to specifically target them.
 

He stated that the SHE committees touch on a broad spectrum of issues such as physical, mental, occupational, sexual, physiological and financial health, among others.

Therefore, Mr Kedise encouraged staff to exercise, sleep, as well as practice good hygiene, improve eating habits, and weight control, while shunning substance abuse, as such impact their health.

He encouraged staff to screen for diseases such as blood cholesterol and pap smear, adding that there are also physiological problems that the workforce is faced with such as depression.

 In addition, he encouraged the staff to practice safe sex and to address their spiritual needs.

The ministry safety health and environment coordinator, Ms Kgaotsang Kanwi said the purpose of the workshop was to draw the ministry’s SHE roadmap, stressing that the ministry has to move to implementation to see the impact of the programme.

 “We no longer need activities but programmes.

We must be safety conscious in our workplace,” she said, adding that SHE is all about doing something good for the people in the workplace. Ends