THE year has started strongly for mining services specialist Murray & Roberts Cementation, with a resounding safety achievement of five million fatality free shifts. That’s according to Managing Director Mike Wells, who said the landmark had been reached as part of a concerted corporate journey towards Zero Harm.
“This exciting milestone, which we reached in early January 2021, is the result of years of commitment by every member of the company – through multiple initiatives and programmes. This has included our unrelenting focus on the Major Accident Prevention (MAP) programme, as well as stringent risk assessments and the verification of critical controls in the field,” said Wells.
He added that these efforts had succeeded in motivating and inspiring all employees in fully internalising safety principles. This has entrenched the belief that Zero Harm can indeed be achieved, with each employee returning home safely every day.
“We have seen a vital attitudinal change over the years, where success has bred more success and all our people take ownership of their safe work practices – both personally and collectively. This builds a resilient safety culture, which has included a crucial commitment to doing work right the first time.”
Underpinning much of the success in safe working practices has been the increased investment in effective training strategies at the Murray & Roberts Training Academy at Bentley Park near Carletonville. Here, the latest technologies and methods – supported by realistic mock-ups of mining environments – ensure that all workers are fully prepared for all working conditions.
“Our mining customers today regard the commitment to fatality-free operations as a given – not only for themselves but for their service providers. We are proud to be able to demonstrate our success as part of the broader progress in this field by the whole mining sector,” said Wells.
