Mining, engineering and project management company Read, Swatman & Voigt (RSV) achieved two safety milestones this year.

The first milestone is continued qualification, which means recertification and continued certification, for Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001:2007 certification, which is an international occupational health and safety management system specification.

RSV was recommended for recertification by German independent service provider Dekra. It is the first time that a consultant in Southern Africa has successfully retained certification, says RSV health, safety and environment group risk manager Izak Jooste.

RSV’s projects extend from greenfield deep vertical shafts to brownfield declines and developments below existing workings.

Jooste reports the company’s Gear Up! safety management system contributed significantly to the retention of its OHSAS 18001:2007 certification. “Gear Up! is also a significant contributor in achieving our first ‘million fatality-free shifts’ milestone and we have just achieved the two -million shift mark.”

The second RSV safety milestone is the achievement of the second million fatality-free shifts recorded in February. “Many RSV projects have run without any injuries since inception, which can only be achieved through good teamwork and dedication to health and safety. Project managers are enthusiastically engaged in driving team efforts to achieve their safety goals,” says Jooste.

The company has managed to reduce the number of injuries over the past three years by 54%, culminating in the second ‘million fatality-free shifts’ milestone. “In achieving this, the com- pany’s lost-time-injury frequency rate for all projects under RSV supervision has improved by 29%, with an improvement in coaching and training being a significant contributor,” he explains.