Safety

Philosophy and why it is important

Hulamin is committed to operating its plants safely and protecting employees from injury or harm due to incidents or exposure by embedding a culture of safety. This is driven by encouraging employees and the teams in which they work to take responsibility for their own safety. Hulamin seeks to continuously improve its safety performance by measuring and monitoring both leading and lagging indicators which are aligned to industry best practice.

The commitment to the well-being of employees and providing a safe working environment ensures that the business continues to function effectively and to retain and attract skilled people in future.

Responsibilities

The Hulamin Executive Committee is accountable for safety in the organisation. There are formal structures in place to identify, evaluate, and control operational risks. The Hulamin Safety, Health and Environment Committee meets quarterly. All management structures are involved in Visible Felt Leadership processes, which involve a walkabout on the shop floor to discuss progress and identify barriers and constraints to improving performance. Employees are expected to take ownership of their own safety; however, management provides structured direction aimed at inculcating a culture of safe behaviour. Line management is responsible for safety in their respective areas and is centrally supported by the safety, health and environmental team. Hulamin is audited for verification and compliance in line with OHSAS 18001 annually.

Approach

Hulamin has an integrated approach to safety, adopting the principle of behaviour-based safety and the OHSAS 18001 standard.

Processes have been implemented to address high and low potential risks through formal risk assessment principles.

The low potential risks, such as nip points, personal protective equipment (PPE), and scrap handling are addressed by means of the following tools:

• Behaviour-based safety;
• Housekeeping audits;
• Visible felt leadership;
• Baseline risk assessments; and
• System reviews.

The high potential risks, which include explosions, the operation of cranes, and driving of forklifts, are addressed by utilising the more comprehensive risk assessments tools such as Fault Tree and FMEAs.

The reporting of near misses is a priority as this is a leading indicator that can assist in forecasting potential injuries. Teams are encouraged through the behaviour-based safety PACTING process to report their near misses and these are then investigated as if they were injuries.

There were ten Lost Time Incidents (LTI) in 2010, resulting in targets not being met. The 2009 targets were retained for 2010. However, in 2010, production activity levels returned to those of pre-2009, resulting in more shifts being covered, and increased risk exposure. The incidents experienced encompassed the following:

• Three injuries associated with hands;
• Three incidents associated with the back;
• One incident associated with the head; and
• Three incidents associated with falls, bumping against load and falling from a ladder.

In order to mitigate incidents in the future, an incident verification review has been introduced that audits the following:

• Timeous submission of investigation forms;
• Quality of the investigation;
• Evidence of conducting of safety talks;
• Closure of corrective actions; and
• Completion of task-based risk assessment.

A record of the investigation of each incident is distributed throughout the organisation to serve as a learning point and improve safe behaviour. Target incidents are set with an objective of bettering the previous year's performance. Hulamin uses two measures to measure and track safety performance:

• The Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is measured by dividing the number of lost time injuries by total man hours worked, and multiplying by 200 000 for standardisation. LTIFR refers only to lost time injuries and excludes light duty; and
• The Total Recordable Frequency Case Rate (TRFCR) is measured by dividing the number of all recordable cases by the total man hours worked, and multiplying by 200 000 for standardisation. The TRFCR allows for the identification and management of the circumstances in which incidents occur, thus ultimately reducing the overall risk of having a serious accident. TRFCR refers to fatalities, lost time and medical treatment cases.

A formal risk assessment process has been adopted to identify potential safety hazards related to non-routine maintenance tasks. This process involves artisans and maintenance contractors assessing the potential risk before carrying out their tasks.

SABS conducted a surveillance audit on OHSAS 18001:2007. Eight findings were issued. All the findings were minor, mainly operational safety findings, and have been addressed.

Once again, in 2010, focus was placed on specialised training. The training courses were conducted by external specialised service providers and were aimed mainly at artisan level.

Practical training sessions included:

• Fire team;
• Height safety and rescue; and
• Lifting tackle inspector.

There are over 100 Health and Safety Representatives supporting the philosophy of employees taking responsibility for their own and their colleagues' safety, and thus embedding the culture of safety.

Emphasis has been placed on addressing leading indicators by auditing the following systems and procedures:

• Forklift and crane checklists;
• Safety device checklists;
• Banned item control;
• Permit to work/non-routine risk assessments;
• Safety training;
• Incident review;
• Statutory inspections; and
• Near miss reporting.

The audit report findings are discussed at management meetings and closure addressed at the subsequent audit.

There have been no noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) claims during 2010^LA.

As part of the Behaviour Based Safety (BBS) approach, Safety Awards are held every year. These awards recognise individuals and teams that have worked safely and responsibly during the year.

BBS Best Coach Winner

The 2010 winner of the best BBS coach was Joshua Nzimande from the Coil Processing department. Joshua is passionate about safety and has been very helpful in guiding colleagues, especially new employees, through the BBS process. He makes sure that his team understands that safety for oneself and the team is everyone's responsibility. As a consequence the method of corrective coaching has been very successful with his team. Joshua is also a driving force when it comes to "near miss reporting" and is very helpful with investigations and finding long-term preventative solutions.

Word from Joshua:

"People understand BBS is behaviour-based safety but people must understand that BBS is a total strategy to improve safety, health, and environment (SHE) that can be done through the IMBOP process. The change in behaviour is important among the team members. The psychologists and behaviourists show that the consequence of behaviour reinforces behaviour or eliminates all at-risk behaviour. This is why corrective coaching is so important."