Occupational health and safety

Safety is Foskor’s number one priority. To minimise on-duty injuries, Foskor follows global best practice by adhering to the management systems of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In 2009/10 Foskor became the second South African company to be awarded gold status – DEKRA Five Shields – at the Safety, Health, Environmental and Risk Management Conference held at Sun City (April 2010).

DEKRA is an international safety and quality ratings agency dealing with technology, the environment, training, monitoring and mobility certifications. With its roots in France and Germany, the two largest European markets, it offers high-level safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) reporting services around the world to multinationals, industrial organisations and SMMEs.

Between April 2009 and January 2010, Foskor reported eight disabling injuries. The disabling injury frequency rates (DIFR), calculated as the number of disabling injuries per million hours worked, were 0.32 and 0.28 for the Mining and Acid Divisions respectively. The average of 0.30 is a marked improvement on last year’s average of 0.465 primarily due to the concerted efforts of Foskor’s Safety Task Force guided by Mr JW Horn (Vice President: Mining). Foskor had zero fatalities in the year under review.

The Acid Division’s safety awareness programme promotes safety training with pamphlets, banners and clear messaging posted on the site. The management team do regular walkabouts to encourage safe working practices. Workers know that they have the right to refuse to work should they feel unsafe or that a required task will compromise their health or well-being.

In 2009, Foskor retained its ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), ISO 9001 (Quality Management), OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management) and SANS 16001 (HIV/AIDS Management) certifications. Foskor must now also comply with the SANS 451: 2008 standard for Spirometry – the procedure to be followed for the generation of acceptable and repeatable spirograms for the purpose of occupational and medical surveillance of respiratory (lung) function in humans. SANS 451 covers the performance requirements and calibration of the instruments used, as well as hygiene and infection control. Foskor conducted its first spirogram audit in 2009.

Foskor hosted a Safety Awareness Day on 15 April 2009 at the Foskor Community Centre in Namakgale, Phalaborwa. The message that safety is everyone’s responsibility was communicated through all channels to employees. Guest speakers and artists participating in the programme used passionate and effective presentations, speeches and performances to drive home the message about the importance of workplace safety. The staff showed support for the safety campaign by wearing safety hats and dedicated a moment of silence to those who had lost their lives since the inception of Foskor almost 60 years ago. The Department of Mineral Resources announced that 98.3% of the 2,283 safety pledges signed on Safety Awareness Day were contributed by Foskorites and the remainder by contractors. At the Awareness Day function, Foskor’s President/CEO, Mr MA Pitse, complimented the Safety Task Force members on their commitment to maintaining and exceeding global best practice.

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