Safetember, a campaign initiated by the Federated Employer’s Mutual Assurance (FEM), aims to raise awareness on accidents in the workplace and to promote awareness campaigns. The theme of this year was “A focus on working at heights”
On 10 September 2019, Master Builders KwaZulu-Natal and FEM hosted a half-day seminar, with over 120 delegates attending the seminar and igniting conversations around working at heights and construction health and safety.
The event showcased industry experts who highlighted the current state of the industry and focused on possible solutions for a safer construction industry.
Herman Enoch, FEM’s Marketing & Communications Manager stated: “Safetember was initiated to draw attention to the high number of construction-related accidents and, more importantly, to educate both employers and employees in the prevention of such accidents. It is important to FEM, as we firmly believe that every accident is preventable and that an industry with zero accidents is achievable. Fatalities as a result of falls from heights are second only to motor-vehicle accidents and account for around 10 to 20 percent of total fatalities annually”. He added that it is not possible to pinpoint the most common causes, but there are a few issues requiring attention.
Safety should not be viewed as a grudge purchase. The cost of the correct quality PPE or expenses to make an area safe is far lower than the cost of an accident. The financial burden of an injured or deceased employee on a company includes much more than just the direct costs.
“While insurance covers the direct costs, such as medical and pension expenses, there are also the indirect costs that can have a very negative impact on an organisation,” Herman says. “Companies with a high number of claims submissions can be subject to a loading of their workmen’s compensation premiums.”
There are also costs associated with the events that occur after the accident, such as a site shutdown, trauma counselling for co-workers and union intervention. These can have a very negative effect on the bottom-line figures of an organisation. Thus, ensuring the safety of all employees who work at heights creates a better work environment and makes financial sense.
Michelle Beetge from PASMA (Prefabricated Access Suppliers and Manufacturers Association) started off by informing attendees of the following:
• Who is PASMA?
• How does PASMA fit into the Regulatory Framework in SA
• Falls from heights – the statistics
• Researching in the industry to improve safety
PASMA is the international non-profit industry body for the mobile access tower sector. They are experts in the field of mobile access towers, mobile scaffolds and aluminium towers.
Michelle Beetge went on to explain how PASMA assists in improving the Industry by:
• Continuous improvement to standards
• Providing support to members
• Lobbying H&S departments and governments worldwide
• Test and research facility
• No Falls Foundation
Heinrich Schroder from Gravity addressed how ‘Competence equals Confidence’ and started off by mentioning the Dunning-Kruger Effect. A quote from Forbes magazine regarding this phenomenon reads: “Coined in 1999 by David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias whereby people who are incompetent at something are unable to recognize their own incompetence.”
He ended off his presentation by reminding attendees that people are our most valuable assets and that competent, confident people add value.
An-lie Nel from The Institute of Work at Heights discussed fall protection planning, developing and implementation. She started off by explaining what a fall protection plan and a fall risk is in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Construction Regulations of 2014.
She detailed the various requirements to be met with developing your fall protection plan and ensuring is site-specific. An-lie’s parting words for the attendees were “Presumption is the opposite of prevention”.
In the final and probably most shocking presentation of the seminar, Legislative Compliance Specialists’ Director, Mr Ernst van Biljon discussed “Lessons learned from recent occupational health and safety accidents”, including visuals from incidents where employees were fatally injured while on duty.
“If your systems are ineffective, the legal prosecution normally goes for the CEO,” he said, explaining that company management was often the ones who stood in front of a judge, being charged for workplace injuries or deaths. He explained that through their investigations and cases, accidents happened for a number of reasons – non-adherence to the training received, employee complacency or resistance to rules were just three of the many reasons mentioned.
“Statistics from the International Labour Organisation showed that globally, work-related fatalities totalled R2.8 million”, said Mr. van Biljon, urging professionals to understand that working with humans often resulted in human error, but occupational health and safety was a serious issue, and one of the hardest things was having to explain to a family as to why their loved one would never be coming home.
This year’s campaign hopes to deliver the message that accidents are indeed preventable. FEM has a proud history of giving back to the industry and this is just one more way they are taking responsibility to make the industry safer.
Neil Enslin | Occupational Health and Safety Manager
