14 Oct 2019

First aid plays an important role in saving lives by administering basic medical treatment.

This was said by Vice President Mr Slumber Tsogwane who explained that first aid skills enabled practitioners to react immediately to an incident, injury or illness.

He was speaking at weekend’s Botswana Chamber of Mines inter-mine first aid competitions hosted by Lucara Botswana in Letlhakane.

First aid, he said, was fundamental to any company’s emergency preparedness strategy as it offered first-line life-saving treatment to victims of accidents before their evacuation to medical facilities.

“Occupational safety and health at work are the vital components of decent work,” he said adding that providing employees with a safe working environment was simply the right thing to do.

Quoting statistics, Mr Tsogwane  said companies that implemented effective workplace health and safety programmes could expect a reduction of work-related illness and injury.

The vice president noted that increased productivity reduced medical and related costs which positively impacted the bottom line.

On the competition, he said participation by the concerned mines was  demonstration of their commitment to creating and maintaining a safe work environment for employees and visitors alike.

Karowe Mine general manager Mr Johane Mchive said the competitions promoted the practice of First Aid in the workplace and fostered a culture of safe behaviour as well as responsible practices among mine workers and the community.

He said first aid was regarded as a secondary layer of the safety strategy of mining operations while avoidance of incidents was the primary side.

Mr Mchive said it was important to make the secondary layer effective, understood and mastered to minimise the impact of accidents  in the event the primary layer  strategy failed.

“As hosts, we take safety and first aid seriously, we involve the community, and we have trained the police in Boteti region basic first aid, because they arrive at accident scenes more often before the medics,” he said.

He said the mine had also found a First Aid skills gap with combi drivers and schools in Boteti who have since been trained on the basics.

Botswana Chamber of Mines chief executive officer Mr Charles Siwawa said the objective of the event was to foster and complement safety record.

The purpose of first aid, he explained, was to get employees to understand preventing aggravation of injuries and fatal accidents.

Mr Siwawa said the idea was to extend first aid competitions to the whole of Botswana.

For her part, managing director of Lucara Botswana Ms Nassim Lahri said the aim of First Aid was to ensure security of the value-chain.

Ms Lahri commended  participants for the magnificent display of skills.

Lucara Botswana emerged the winner in the competitions with 195 points, followed by Orapa Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines (OLDM) Team A with 194.5 points while OLDM Team B took position three with 194 points. Morupule Coal Mine got position four with 182 points. ENDS