Persist and resist

19th June 2023

This year’s Saiosh OHS Conference ran alongside the A-OSH Expo from 6 to 7 June at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand and, once again, the conference was a roaring success. The jam-packed symposium provided ample food for thought and delivered a call to action.

Things kicked off with some great news. “As stated in our advertising material, this year’s conference will be bigger and better than what we have ever had before,” said Neels Nortjé, CEO of the South African Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Saiosh), at the start of the symposium. “This year, we have the most delegates that have ever registered before for any conference. It shows that Saiosh is definitely doing something right.”

Thobile Lamati, director general of the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), also praised the event during his keynote address on the first day: “This conference is one of the most important conferences that we have in the country, especially as we’re trying to recover from Covid-19. We really look forward to events like these where we get expert advice.”

Dr Sanjay Munnoo, president of Saiosh and chief business development officer at the Federated Employers Mutual Assurance, added that conferences are a great source for health and safety statistics. In his presentation, The Impact of Occupational Injuries, Munnoo highlighted some concerning statistics.

“The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that some 2.3 million women and men around the world succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year; this corresponds to over 6,000 deaths every single day. Worldwide, there are around 340 million occupational accidents and 160 million victims of work-related illnesses,” he noted. “A ‘safety attitude’ is to always be aware that some harm can occur to you and to recognise that safety is everyone’s responsibility. Yet the high number of annual fatalities and diseases reported on a global scale continues unabated.”

Bulelwa Huna, senior specialist of occupational health and hygiene at the DEL, expanded on this in her presentation, OHS and the Future of Work: “If we look at the global statistics, the ILO estimates that about 4% of the world’s gross domestic product is lost due to occupational accidents and diseases. That is a lot of money that could have been used for prevention.”

Huna said that if one looks at the combined estimation of the ILO and the World Health Organization on noncommunicable diseases, these account for about 82% of deaths attributed to work. “And, sadly, diseases are underreported,” she added.

Lamati elaborated on the state of affairs closer to home in his address, The DEL’s Vision for OHS in South Africa. “The ILO estimates that just over 3,000 fatal occupational injuries and over four million occupational accidents occur in South Africa annually. If you look at the status quo in occupational health and safety, occupational injuries, diseases, and fatalities continue to plague our country,” said the director general. “People die frequently from workplace incidents, and many succumb due to occupational diseases. Further, there are thousands of injuries that cause lost time from work.”

To drive his point home, Lamati gave statistics on payments that the Compensation Fund made over the past three years: “In 2020 the Compensation Fund paid just over R1.8 billion, and in 2021 just over R4 billion. In 2022 that figure went down to R2 billion. But if you look at the number of payments made, which reflects the number of incidents, it increases every year.”

The total number of benefits paid to employees and service providers in 2022 and 2023 thus far amount to R3.2 billion. “The magnitude of this social and economic cost provides a clear obligation to renew and double up efforts to improve workplace health and safety,” Lamati continued.

Stuart Hughes, head of health and safety for Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team and IOSH President Elect, gave three simple words that can help all within the occupational health and safety sphere to tackle the challenges that the industry faces: “persist and resist”.

“Persist in the objective of creating a safe and healthy working environment, and then resist the people that accept lower standards, that are happy for things not being done in the right way,” he said during his presentation, Navigating Complexity and Taking Every Opportunity to Succeed.

“OSH is a job that is never finished; we can always get better. If we persist and try to make things as good as possible, and we don’t get held back by people that are happy to accept lower standards, then we can make a meaningful difference in your community and country,” Hughes added. “What all the presenters say at the conference doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t translate into action for you, here. If you don’t leave here and do something different, as a result of the past two days, what is the point?”

Leader Nkala (Saiosh Person of the Year).

Denishree Padayachee (Saiosh Student of the Year).

Munnoo gave some wonderful advice pertinent to Hughes’ question. “I highly recommend health and safety practitioners use the information and case studies from health and safety conferences, then arrange for workshops at their workplace,” he asserted. “Get buy-in from colleagues to target and prevent the most common causes of accidents: struck-by, slips, and over-exertion or falls from height.”

Lamati succinctly summed it up: “Occupational health and safety contribute to all of the following: productivity and stability in the workplace. Without occupational health and safety, you can kiss economic growth goodbye.”

“I was told that a good conference chairman closes a conference with a summary of the speakers, but it is impossible to do that – it was such a great line-up of topics,” enthused Nortjé. “I, however, looked at my notes in the brochure and realised that the foreword summarises everything perfectly: ‘This year’s conference reflects our collective responsibility to shape the future of health and safety, and create a safer, healthier, and more sustainable working environment for all.’ I think that we have achieved that. ‘The conference will offer a diverse range of topics that will explore the latest developments in occupational health and safety, and provide valuable insights into how we can build a culture of safety in the workplace.’ It definitely did,” he continued.

“Finally, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the sponsors, partners, and speakers for their contribution to making this event possible. I would also like to thank all of the attendees for taking the time to participate in this conference, and for their dedication to ensuring the safety and well-being of their employees,” Nortjé concluded.