02 Jun 2019

Debswana Jwaneng mine general manager, Mr Koolatotse Koolatotse has said safety is of outmost importance in their daily operations, and they aim to totally eliminate any incidences of accidents.

Speaking at the quarter one Triple Zero Relay Awards at the mine on May 31, Mr Koolatotse said they did not want to be an organisation that was associated with mining a product that would claim human lives or caused injuries, something he said would ruin the mine and company’s reputation.

He said to achieve that level of safety, they had in place a number of initiatives such as learning from incidences as well as the Triple Zero Relay campaign, which aims to ensure no fatalities by the year 2021.

Mr Koolatotse also indicated that they were mooting a safety at home initiative, which would enable safety to be preached even at home by spouses and children on employees.

This, he said would help address concerns such as drinking under the influence of alcohol, failure to wear seatbelts and others which continue to claim lives, including those of the mine employees.

“As a mine we do not exist in isolation, so when we talk about safety we should not only constrain ourselves to the boundary of the mine. We are part and parcel of the community of Jwaneng and the surrounding villages so fatalities that occur outside the mine should be of equal concern to us as those that occur within. This is the reason we are so involved in community projects around,” he said.

Mr Koolatotse also indicated that Triple Zero awards were vital to companies that wanted to do business with Debswana, as it indicated that such establishments equally take safety seriously.

One of the victims, Mr Ishmael Atamelang cited that most accidents occur due to negligence by employees, and indicated that Debswana and other contracting companies always ensured that policies, codes of conduct and safety equipment are always provided to employees .

He cautioned fellow employees to always take safety measures seriously as any fatality had the potential to impact negatively on the image of the organisation as well as taking a toll on family members and colleagues.

He also cautioned his colleagues to desist from taking shortcuts on safety procedure in a hurry to increase production.

For her part, Safety and Sustainable Development Manager, Ms Mpho Mosate, said that they took a decision to hold this quarter’s awards at the Blue Area as it was where the risk of fatalities was high.

She said that the aim of the campaign was to strive for zero accidents by 2021, something she said could only be achieved through each and every individual’s commitment to upholding safety procedures.

She said that it was also their belief that rewarding individuals would also motivate others to comply, and urged past winners to share with others the importance of compliance.

During the awards, ET 14 scooped position one followed Kalcon while Evalanche got position three. ENDS