Safety, Security and Health

The Mining Division in Phalaborwa was the first South African operation to receive certification by the South African National Standards (SANS) Bureau for its progressive HIV/AIDS programme, in 2008. SANS 16001, derived from the ISO, is the national best practice benchmark for workplace HIV/AIDS programmes. The Acid Division in Richards Bay attained its certification for the first time in November 2008 and has since successfully retained it.

The SANS 16001: 2007 processes are relatively new to most mines. The following five-step programme is entailed:

  • Assessing the risk of HIV against the company's needs – this entails rating the available HIV services and systems and measuring their efficacy;
  • Planning and developing a customised intervention based on the assessment, setting targets, objectives and success criteria, and then allocating responsibility and resources to effect the interventions required;
  • Implementing customised solutions to manage the identified risks, targets, objectives and success criteria;
  • Monitoring the monthly and quarterly statistics and the project plan in terms of achieving the targets and objectives; and

Evaluating the implemented interventions for efficacy, outcomes, achievement of success criteria and return on investment, as well as compliance with SANS 1600​​