Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Pomp, fanfare filled Atlas Copco Botswana Wellness and Safety Day

Scores of jubilant employees from Atlas Copco Botswana descended on Jwaneng Golf Club stadium, celebrating the company’s wellness and safety day with pomp and fanfare amid intermittent physical exercises meant to keep the body fit and healthy.

The multi-national, health conscious corporate organization specializing in mining and construction equipments, celebrated the day with their Jwaneng township co-employees attached with the diamond mining Debswana Company- one of the main customers of Atlas Copco mining services and products.

Without wasting anytime, the company’s manager in Botswana Ronnie Van der Nest set the tone by warmly welcoming his employees: “Today is all about fun. It is fun day.”

From acrobatic dance, egg racing to balloon searching games including the incredible Rocket launch, Atlas Copco Botswana wellness and safety day was a spectacle with health and safety lessons preached in between.

“Safety is our culture. For every organization safety and the health of employees is a priority of much concern,” Van der Nest added at the second wellness and safety day over the weekend which attracted much attendance this time around.

With incidents common amongst manual industries particularly in the mines related occupation, Atlas Copco Human Resource Manager Wathuto Setsimatsima outlined the importance of wearing safety clothing all the time during working days.

For the Independent Counselling Advisory Services, no employee can make a successful and quality contribution of production for any organization including the business community with a weak and troubled soul.

“We should exercise to prevent diseases. Employees should possess the safety and health of mind and body ….either mentally, physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually; all these aspects should be in sync,” revealed Tshegofatso Mmolawa, an official from ICAS.

Working hard all time could also bring about diseases including the prevalent heart attack.
Besides exercising, environmental awareness is also key to a healthy individual with Mmolawa emphasizing on a clean surrounding for the welfare and safety of the entire nation.

With today’s world all about money, Barclays Bank for their part cautioned about the necessity to budget wisely with basic needs including food and accommodation a priority.

Some of the ineffectiveness and inefficiency at work are the result of poor budgeting, Barclays Bank Personal Finance Manager Max Nthai noted.

Atlas Copco employees also underwent health checks as the dietician John Nderitu from Bokamoso Private hospital highlighted over healthy eating.

Kagisano gender based organization also joined the bandwagon, emphasizing on gender violence particularly amongst the vulnerable women.

“A sad battered face will not make a good work,” Kgomotso Thobega of Kagisano said.

But the peak of the Saturday event could be summed with the Rocket launch which saw competing groups fight over whom to launch the furthest makeshift rocket made from plastic bottle drinks up the sky against the air pumped into the bottled water from underneath.

The pressure will force the cork to pop out hastily, giving a spectacular scene into the sky.
A multi-national company originating from Sweden, Atlas Copco set foot in the country in 2009 dealing on heavy equipments including generators and drilling machines especially for the mining projects.

Currently it has employed quite a considerable number of locals whose health the company takes much consideration.

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