The Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Chamber of Mines (BCM), Charles Siwawa, has hailed Orapa Letlhakane (OLM) mines for prioritizing safety and environmental health strategies rather than focus on business interests.
Speaking recently during an Environment, Community and Occupational Health and Safety (ECOHS) campaign, dubbed “Quantum Leap” in Orapa, he urged the employees, contractors and the management of the mines to continue to work together in order to be able to purge accidents and create a zero harm mining environment.
“I have to commend OLM for its continuous effort in demonstrating that people’s safety is of paramount importance in the achievement of Debswana’s strategic objectives,” he said.
The Quantum Leap initiative by OLM is a new ECOHS campaign strategy to create much safer and healthier working and living conditions for employees, business partners, visitors and the general public. The strategy is also geared at preventing incidents that can result in injuries and environmental damage at the workplace.
Siwawa said that OLM being Debswana’s largest operation, should take a leading role in ensuring a robust and achievable ECOHS strategy to reduce accidents. He said that for OLM to achieve zero harm, there is need by all stake-holders to take 100 percent accountability of the Quantum Leap programme and added that they should be actively involved in reversing all negative trends with regards to ECOHS.
“On behalf of the Botswana Chamber of Mines,┬áI would like to implore you all, OLM and your business partners, as well as the community to work a lot closely, report those near hits, close any recorded non-conformance, adhere to safety procedures and regulations at work, at home and on the roads,” he added.
He complemented the management of OLM for its commitment to ECOHS and urged the mines to maintain a good relationship with the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) in promoting ECOHS.
