Air Products South Africa, a leading manufacturer and supplier of a wide range of industrial gases, puts health and safety issues firmly at the top of its agenda and is proud of its safety track record.

The company is ISO 9000 certified at all its facilities, with ongoing safety programmes which aim to integrate safety into all the company’s activities. And once again, the company has gained recognition for its commitment to safety and health best practices, through the NOSA (National Occupation Safety Association) awards.

Sue Janse van Vuuren, Head of SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environment and Quality) at Air Products explains why the annual NOSA awards hold value for the company and why they are an important part of its calendar:
“The NOSA programme is externally audited which helps us benchmark ourselves against other companies in South Africa,” she says. “Winning NOSA awards gives us confidence in the effectiveness of our internal environment health and safety programmes, and assures us that our systems are world class.”

The basis of the NOSA programme is the NOSA Integrated Five Star System Standard, which has been implemented by thousands of companies both in South Africa and around the world. The NOSA audit guidelines provide a thorough evaluation of the principles and practices that keep an organisation safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable.

“The NOSA system is based on South African legislation, and SHE best practices, so it provides us with a measure of our compliance and a level of assurance.”

NOSA holds a number of awards functions each year. Janse van Vuuren explains the process:
“The NOSCAR awards are presented at the NOSCAR Banquet. This award is the ultimate symbol of excellence in occupational risk management. It recognises those companies, or divisions, which are the ‘best of the best’. Air Products was thrilled to receive NOSCAR awards for five of its facilities.

Then each region holds its own award function,” she continues, “where the Sector Industry Category (SIC) awards are given to reward the best NOSA integrated system to companies within each respective industry sector.
And finally, the NOSA International Awards are held at NOSHCON (NOSA’s annual conference), which was held during August 2011. Our highest achievement was our Head Office being awarded the Winner of the International Top 100 Award for World Class SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) Performance in the Commercial category,” she says.

The other categories in the Top 100 Awards are Manufacturing and Mining. The International Top 100 Award is the highest NOSA accolade, and this was the second consecutive year that Air Products has received it.  At the regional SIC awards, held last year, Air Products won a number of first and second places, as well as awards for the Best Occupational Safety, Best Occupational Health and Best Environmental Management Programmes. “Our Kempton Park facility was overall winner of the Sector E awards (Electricity, Gas and Water),” says Janse van Vuuren, “and this, along with their audit results, qualified them for their first NOSCAR.”

She recognises, however, that the company cannot afford to rest on its laurels. “In any certification system, it is one thing to achieve high standards but another to maintain them. This takes a lot of hard work and dedication from each and every employee at all levels and facilities within the organisation,” she says.

This is why employees find such recognition gratifying, and, as Janse van Vuuren says, it spurs the company on to future accolades. “We continually strive for improvement in our SHE systems and performance and are working to bring all our facilities up to the same level. We would like to continue to bring at least another facility up to NOSCAR standard each year,” she advises, adding that the company will also be working hard to maintain its Top 100 position for another year.

“It is also important to remember that SHE management is not all about awards but it is about providing and maintaining a safe workplace for our employees and preventing any harm to people and the environment,” Janse van Vuuren concludes.

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