At our NMG Printing Plant we are firmly committed to ensuring the occupational health, safety and well-being of our employees, contractors and visitors as stipulated under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 2007. Through our occupational safety and health policy, we are committed to creating a zero harm safety culture in all of our operations. Our aim is to create a proactive safety culture in which all our employees believe that all injuries and illness are foreseeable and preventable. A safe and healthy business is a well-managed business.
Creating a safe workplace
Everyone has the right to work in a healthy, safe environment and at NMG Printing Plant we have a general duty of care for the health, safety and welfare of our employees.
Not only does NMG experience increased pressure and cost when employees suffer an injury, the economic costs associated with these injuries are secondary to the negative impact injuries have on families, communities and the workplace.
With a vision of zero fatalities and workplace injuries, safety is non-negotiable across our operations. We are relentless in improving safety through visible leadership, positive behaviour of our employees, design of our facilities and workstations, and by implementing safe systems and procedures throughout the Plant.
Our focus on safety and health also supports NMG’s growth ambition, recognising that sustainable growth is only achieved if we also grow responsibly – protecting not only our employees, but also the people and communities in which we operate.
In our production operations alone, we have maintained a level of safety excellence within the last three years, reporting a total of 4 injuries at work between 2013 and 2015, the last one reported in September 2015. We have since refocused our efforts and aim to maintain this safe and healthy work environment. Our commitment to safety comes from the most senior levels in our management.
Safety is everyone’s responsibility
A key focus for our Safety function is to build a safety culture in which all line managers and individuals share a personal responsibility for safety. Key to this has been safety trainings offered to all employees to reinforce to them this responsibility and how to ‘walk the talk’ on safety every minute of every day.
In 2016, we introduced a mandatory work permit for all contractors who come to work on our site. This was designed to ensure that apart from ensuring safety of our contractors, no harm is brought to our employees as a result of the work performed by outside contractors.
In addition, employees are responsible for making good choices for their safety and that of their colleagues. Drawing on best practice from inside and outside NMG Printing Plant, we have developed a variety of tools and training to guide our employees in adopting safe behaviours.
Machinery safety
We continue to work on improving the safety of people working with machines, particularly reducing injuries caused when people’s hands get caught in machines, which used to be one of our most common printing press injuries. We have rigorous standards to protect our employees. We assess all the risks related to our equipment and ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.
With the commissioning of the new press in early 2016, machinery safety has greatly improved, although this is still kept under continuous review. Tools that involve employees in identifying hazards and assessing their risks such as regular inspections have been developed. This makes safety more personal and builds greater individual accountability for it.
Monitoring our performance
We monitor our performance closely and share the learnings to drive improvement in our performance. Some of the tools used to monitor performance include monitoring accident rates, external audits and trainings.