Drilling technology solutions provider Rosond says it has achieved major health and safety milestones at Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen and Kolomela mines in the Northern Cape.

Based on the exploration and production geology section at Sishen, Rosond is drilling boreholes for exploration and mine-grade-control sampling purposes. 

There have been no lost-time injuries (LTI) since the start of Rosond’s operations at the mine, with 582 LTI-free days to date.

At Kolomela, the major milestone has been maintaining a zero harm record for over a year, even with the recruitment and onboarding process of new employees and equipment having begun earlier.

“We are currently still at zero harm, with 501 days worked to date,” explains site manager James Faure.

The company says it has established an excellent safety, health and environmental (SHE) record by implementing stringent SHE policies and complying with all legislation in pursuit of zero harm.

Hazard identification and risk assessment (Hira) forms the basis for all safety procedures.

Moreover, management investigates any unsafe practices and incidents to determine necessary steps to prevent a reoccurrence.

Rosond has two drilling departments at Kolomela, namely Exploration Drilling and Production Geology, each with their own senior foreman, supervisors and drilling crews, and the Engineering and Logistics Department, with their foreman and mechanical teams.

Lastly, there is the Safety Department with its chief safety officer and team of safety officers and safety representatives.

Rosond says it has had great success in training all-female crews deployed at Kumba, facilitated personally by head of training and development Carlo Claassens, who ensures that employees are trained in all relevant health and safety aspects, including client-related mandatory training, as well as operational training pertaining to the fleet deployed at Sishen and Kolomela respectively.

Rosond has its own training department at Sishen to ensure both male and female operators are competent, driven and highly motivated.

The key elements of Rosond’s SHE policy are ‘Value Safety’, ‘Stay Focused’ and ‘Lead by Example’. This ties in with Kumba’s parent company Anglo American’s own codes of identifying priority unwanted events and putting critical controls in place to protect employees from any harm or illness.