SAFETY AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT
The comprehensive Medical Surveillance Programme which was fully implemented as per the revised Mandatory Code of Practice for Minimum Standards of Fitness to perform work at a mine, are 100% complied with.

Health and safety throughout the Lower Orange River (LOR) remains a key focus area in order to:

• Improve the occupational health and safety awareness and well-being of all employees
• Improve and maintain the health and safety management system
• Enhance legal compliance
• Minimise or eliminate risk to the employee
• Prevent all injuries to employees and the damage to company property

HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
An internal audit on the Trans Hex Safety Management System has been conducted during the last quarter of 2007 in order to ensure compliance and to highlight shortcomings.

Continuous inspections, follow-ups and observations are key drivers to ensure sustainability, assessing safety behaviour and to ensure compliance. Numerous basic key elements, e.g. risk assessments, planned inspections, task observations and communications are part of day-to-day safety management.

Senior health and safety (H&S) officers have been appointed at Reuning and Baken. This ensures better control over the H&S system and more effective communication. A full-time H&S representative has been appointed for the South African land operations.

The responsibility for health and safety training has been decentralised to the line managers. The involvement of the line managers simplifies the system and thus makes the system more audit friendly.

There is a purposeful drive to create a health and safety culture within the organisation. One of the methods that have been implemented to create such a culture is the five-minute Safety Talk. With every shift change the whole shift has a safety topic they discuss. Training records are being kept of the five-minute Safety Talk.

The health and safety culture is further being promoted by the running of team-building workshops for all members involved in health and safety. The workshops thus far have been a major success.

It is clear that every employee is being involved and made part of the health and safety culture; this multilevel approach is already delivering dividends.

A new competition for the South African land operations has been created and will commence on 1 June 2008. The competition is divided into three categories, namely, Individual Safety Incentive Scheme, Trans Hex LOR Safety Shield Competition and Annual Safety Competition. Prizes and shields will be awarded after a 12-month period.

The objective of this competition is to enhance a health and safety culture, improve and maintain health and safety management systems and to give recognition for individual and section safety performance in the LOR operations.

RISK ASSESSMENTS
The continuous risk assessment method is fully implemented as per the Safety Management System and teams are participating in risk assessments prior to task performance.

ACCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS
The LOR adopts the approach that every incident has the potential of a high severity. Therefore we investigate all events in order to identify repetitive behaviour and to ensure remedial actions, simply to prevent events from recurring.

ACCIDENT RECORD AND STATISTICS

Further objectives are to minimise all types of injuries thereby maintaining an LTIFR of less than 0,5, reduce absenteeism in order to eliminate safety risks, encourage ‘near miss’ reporting, eliminate property damage and encourage team performance.

The accident rate calculations are based on the 200 000 man-hours worked norm, as per the NOSA formula. Frequency rates are calculated for the four categories, i.e. fatal injuries (FIFR), reportable injuries (RIFR), disabling injuries (DIFR) and minor injuries (MIFR), all expressed on a calendar-year basis.

TRANS HEX GROUP SAFETY PERFORMANCE – CALENDAR YEAR ON YEAR

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Number of disabling injuries	28	10	5	7	1
Disabling injury-free rate (DIFR)	1,64	0,51	0,25	0,39	0,25
Change (year on year) %	(2)	(69)	(51)	56	(36)

During July 2007 at Reuning, an unfortunate fatal accident occurred as a result of a conveyor belt incident.