02 Dec 2019

 Water Utilities Corporation’s (WUC) has been commended for observing and giving distinction to health issues in order to drive productivity.

Speaking during WUC wellness event in Ramotswa recently, mineral resources, green technology and energy security minister, Mr Lefoko Moagi applauded the corporation’s acting CEO for the significant contribution in working towards having a healthy workforce.

He said it was important to anticipate, identify, evaluate and control stressors in the workplace that might affect the wellbeing of employees.

The minister handed over a cluster pool table to Ramotswa WUC team to be used for relaxation and encouraged full utilisation of the sporting equipment. Meanwhile, WUC acting CEO, Mr Gaselemogwe Senai emphasised the need for organisations to have mechanisms in place such as sporting and recreational facilities, medical examinations, peer educators programmers, nutrition and health education with the hope to reduce illness and absenteeism among workers.

He said since employees spent most of their time at the workplace, it was importance for employers to adequately develop occupational health management services. He further urged companies to establish healthy working environment that would motivate employees to take charge of their health.

Mr Senai said the company was in the middle of a restructuring exercise, a situation that might bring ambivalence among the employees, hence the need to provide psychosocial support and coping mechanism for employees.

He said as it was a requirement by WUC’s health safety and environment policy, the organisation came up with five key health management principles that included, protecting workers’ health against hazards, providing limited health care services for workers, to minimise the consequence of occupational hazards and accidents and related diseases, promoting the physical and psycho-social wellbeing of workers as well as to ensure that the work environment suited the capabilities of a worker.

Despite the organisation’s great achievements, he said they were challenged by low utilisation of internal counselling services due to concerns with non-confidentiality. He challenged workers to work towards living a healthy lifestyle to combat among others non-communicable conditions. Ends