The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA) will once again celebrate companies that have gone out of their way to invest in and protect the health and safety of their employees.

“Employees are, without doubt, the most valuable assets of any business. Therefore, it goes without saying that companies should value their lives and continually invest in ensuring that the environment in which employees operate is safe, SEIFSA Chief Executive Officer Kaizer Nyatsumba said today.

He said employers have a legal obligation towards their employees to ensure that not a single life is lost at the workplace, regardless of how hazardous the work environment might be.

To celebrate companies that go out of their way to invest in the health and safety of their employees, SEIFSA will present the Health and Safety Award of the Year to a company with the best legal compliance record in Health and Safety or the lowest Lost-Time Injury Frequency rate between July 2018 and December 2019.
The 6th SEIFSA Awards for Excellence will take place on 28 May 2020 at Summer Place in Boksburg.

Last year, the Health and Safety Award was won by Howden. According to the judges, Howden demonstrated a multifaceted approach to risk management by implementing several programmes to influence positively the safety culture within the organization

Along with the Health and Safety Award of the Year, the SEIFSA Awards for Excellence have six other categories. These are:

• The Most Innovative Company of the Year, which will be awarded to a company that has shown the best level of innovation in research and development or production;
• The Most Transformed Company of the Year Award will be received by a company that recorded the highest transformation level in ownership as well as the composition of its Board of Directors, Executive Management and Managerial Team. This award category pits companies employing fewer than 100 people against those of similar size, and companies employing more than 100 people against others of similar size;
• The Best CSI Award will be presented to a company whose corporate social investment programme/s had a major impact on the lives of its beneficiaries;
• The company rated the highest in customer service performance will receive the Customer Service Award of the Year;
• The Artisan Development Award will go to the company that trained the highest number of artisans between July 2018 and December 2019; while
• The Environment Stewardship Award will go to a company that has successfully implemented greening initiatives in its day-to-day business operations during the period under review.

Mr Nyatsumba said awards entrants will be assessed on their performance in the period 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2019. He urged companies operating in the metals and engineering sector to submit their entries for the seven categories before the deadline date of 28 April 2020. Entries are open to members of Associations federated to SEIFSA as well non-members.