The Sociedade Mineira de Catoca (SMC) has been observing, since last Friday December 15th, the Internal Week for the Prevention of Accidents at Work (SIPAT), to expand the adoption of safety procedures in operations that lead to the eradication of accidents, Jornal de Angola learned of the deputy director general for the area of Administration.
Paulo Mandela indicated that, during five days of activities during which SIPAT takes place, meetings are planned to collect contributions from workers in areas linked to the company’s international operations.
For the director of the Control and Quality Office, Engrácia Soito, the guarantee of safety is a legal principle of mandatory compliance, with SIPAT as a space for interaction between the provider and the employer.
“Safety cannot be negotiated, it is observed”, said Engrácia Soito, who praised the availability of speakers from various backgrounds to introduce, in the company, the culture of prevention and the implementation of the project to eradicate statistics on occupational accidents and illnesses.
In the field of diseases most commonly contracted in the exercise of the profession, Engrácia Soito pointed to low back pain and some cases of audiometry, which gives rise to the concern about involving workers from the mining company and service-providing companies.
Except for an accident that claimed the life of a worker assigned to a service provider company, SMC’s records for the current year “do not include other deaths due to work accidents”, stated the director.
The accident rate is one occurrence every 15 days, compared to the previous average of four per week, with emphasis on mining areas, specifically in the waste disposal, metallurgy and equipment departments, where the aim is to completely eradicate these statistics.
