Times Of Swaziland: RAILWAY SPENDS E200 000 ON WORKERS’ SAFETY

RAILWAY SPENDS E200 000 ON WORKERS’ SAFETY
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 BY MELISA MSWELI on 11/07/2019 08:58:00


MBABANE - Eswatini Railway spent E200 000 in ensuring the safety of its
employees.
That was confirmed by the company’s Chief Executive Office Stephenson Ngubane
during the launch of certification ISO 45001 of 2018.
ISO 45001 was described as an international standard that specifies requirements
for an Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) management system, with guidance
for its use, so as to enable an organisation to proactively improve its OH&S
performance in preventing injury and ill-health. It was also said to be
applicable to any organisation regardless of its size, type and nature.
Risks
Ngubane stated that they focused on reducing risks at work and providing a
harmless environment for their over 400 employees. He went on to state that
their philosophy was that all occurrences were preventable. “We believe that
it is our duty to be accountable for occurrences and to prevent them,” he
said.
Ngubane went on to state that it was equally the responsibility of the employees
to prevent the accidents in the workplace. What remained a challenge to
organisation was the issue of accidents that were happening at cross sections of
roads and railways.
Another challenge the company faces has to do with members of the public who end
up on railway lines including those who intentionally want to end their lives.
Stray livestock was also on the list of challenges. In an attempt to deal with
this challenge, the company bought fence measuring about 600km which was,
unfortunately stolen.
“We are also faced with the theft of rail components, which is a great loss
for the company as the rails are expensive,” he added.
Ngubane recalled an incident which happened two weeks ago where he said they
received a call from someone who informed them that there were people who were
cutting the railway.
He said they discovered that the people were cutting the railway line just to
sell the metals at a scrapyard, not knowing they were living great damage
behind.
Launch
The launch of the ISO 45001 meant that the company was able to meet the
international standards under occupational health and safety of its employees.
Worth noting is that Eswatini Railway had to be audited before being graded.
According to the Safety, Health, Environment and Quality (SHEQ) Manager Mavela
Vilane, the parastatal was audited twice before being granted the certification
which was given to them in May this year.
Benefits that come with the ISO 45 001 include improved stakeholder
relationships through making the health and safety of its employees, business
partners and customers a priority.
It also includes ensuring the safety and security of customer property which
gives them a positive response from key stakeholders.
Improved risk management is part of the benefits to which the company said it
was now able to identify potential incidents and implementing controls and
measures to keep the risks of exposure as low as possible.
Another benefit is the customer satisfaction and safety, which the company said
was a gain to them as they were now able to meet customer requirements
consistently while safeguarding their safety, health and property.