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Iron & Steel

Labour inspectors swoop on accident-prone steel industry

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 09:43

The Department of Labour has kicked off its health and safety campaign into the iron and steel industry, by urging industry players to ceaselessly work towards achieving accident-free time zones.

Speaking at Columbus Steel, a major player in the sector in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, the newly appointed Chief Inspector, Thobile Lamati, said “health and safety in the workplace should be everybody’s concern.”

“We have targeted the iron and steel industry, considering that it is one of those that are accident prone. We ask large employers to assist us in helping smaller companies to comply with the legislation.

“Our intention is not to punish anybody. We want to work together to eliminate incidents that have bedevilled this industry,” Lamati said.

He commended the company for ensuring that top management was involved 24 hours with occupational health and safety. “This is a far cry from the situation in other companies, where health and safety is often relegated to lower ranks,” he said.

Dave Martin, chief executive of the company, said, “While we can never say we are 110 percent correct in complying with health and safety regulations, we are prepared to work with the department to improve it all the time. Together we can help to enhance the industry performance.”