03 Apr 2022

Safety has been stressed as one of the essentials that give diamonds their value, hence the need to prioritise it in the work place.

Debswana Jwaneng mine, general manager Mr Koolatotse Koolatotse said this during the Operation Ke Ka Kgona (OKKK) awards launch at the mine on Friday.

The initiative is geared towards improving safety in the working environment around the mine.

Mr Koolatotse said no buyer would want to be associated with diamonds whose production claimed lives, and that as a symbol of love, diamonds should be clean at all levels of the mining process.

“As much as no one would want to give their loved ones a present that has a bad history or image, so should be the case with diamonds. We should ensure that our working environment is safe at all levels to increase the value of our diamonds,” he said.

He said diamonds were currently the only mainstay of the economy as other sectors had been affected by COVID -19, therefore all should be done to ensure they were not spoilt by poor safety measures.

Mr Koolatotse also said that it was vital that initiatives meant to address the safety of employees always came from them, with the leadership offering support and financial assistance.

He indicated that Jwaneng mine was the safest mine in the world as attested by safety records, which was partly possible because of the bottom-up approach in formulating safety initiatives.

“Safety initiatives that we have in place such as Arm Safe, Taking a Stand and Triple Zero are from none other than our employees here. This approach is very good because employees are the ones on the ground, so they are well aware of what is necessary to ensure safety. As leadership we do not want to be seen competing with you when it comes to initiating, but we will support you financially,” he assured.

He said that last year Jwaneng mine recorded 0.09 per cent accidents and were only minor, adding that the number was very low considering the total workforce of about 6 900 employees.

The general manager therefore urged employees to police each other for emotional wellbeing and report to their immediate supervisors when they suspected a colleague to be unwell.

“We cannot risk having an employee who is emotionally unwell to come to work because that will compromise safety. If one is emotionally unwell they cannot concentrate and therefore are a safety risk,” he said.

Mr Koolatotse said that in that light, the mine would soon start offering employees mental first aid courses.

He also attributed emotional instability to abuse at homes, and said that a research conducted at the mine revealed that 33 per cent of employees, which was about 2 000 of the total workforce, were depressed because of financial challenges and love affairs.

“Some of the employees are put under pressure by their partners who demand a certain standard of a living, and to satisfy such partners employees end up in debts because of loans they cannot service,” he said.

On the awards, Mr Koolatotse indicated that they would be rewarding 100 employees every 100 days, which would require a total of P1 million.

For her part, OKKK technical advisor, Ms Keletso Tshekiso said the awards recognised each individual as a part of a larger whole as far as safety was concerned, and urged the employees to work hard to ensure the mine improved its already good safety record.

 She said this among others, required reporting even near misses and acting on them to ensure prevention of actual occurrences. ENDS