Shaft Sinkers achieves 1m fatality-free shifts

Mining contractor Shaft Sinkers on Friday announced that it had achieved one-million fatality-free shifts on July 23 - for the third time since 2001.

"Safety is vital to Shaft Sinkers’ business and in February, the company launched an internal safety campaign that urged employees to work towards achieving one-million fatality free shifts," the company said.

“Shaft Sinkers was the first mining contracting company in South Africa to achieve one-million fatality-free shifts in 2001. We did it again in 2003 and now in 2007. Looking ahead, we will be launching a plan to reach two-million fatality-free shifts,” said Divisional director, corporate services, Tom Pietrzak in a statement.

In order to improve the company’s safety behaviour, the Safety, Health, Environment, Quality & Training department embarked on a renewed drive to promote behavioural-based (BBS) safety and a zero tolerance to harmful acts working style among Shaft Sinkers’ workforce. This latest BBS safety campaign began in the latter part of April 2007 and the benefits of the campaign have already been realised, the company said.