By ’Mathabana Kotelo
Mokhotlong — The Letšeng Diamond Mine last week celebrated two years of safe workplace operations through the Behaviour Based Safety campaign (BBS).
Behaviour-based safety is a concept introduced by the mine in 2011 to encourage safety in the workplace and promote safe and environmentally friendly practices among employees.
Through the November theme, “Why should I work safely”, employees were challenged to aspire to work safely for the sake of their families while protecting their environment.
The event highlighted the “Brother’s Keeper Principle” as a constant reminder to employees to look out for one another and prioritise their own safety and that of their co-workers.
Speaking about the “Brother’s Keeper Principle”, General Manager John Houghton said, the programme’s focus was on caring for one’s co-worker as one would with their own brother or loved ones.
“Brother’s keeper is about shared responsibility, caring for each other and being responsible for one another,” said Houghton.
He said the BBS campaign and brother’s keeper were all in line with Letšeng Diamond Mine’s motto of “We care, we protect, we achieve”.
To mark the event, local comedy and entertainment group, Lilaphalapha, performed a play under the title “Brother’s Keeper”, to emphasise the ideals of behaviour-based safety, caring for each other and observing SHE (safety, health and environment) guidelines.
At the same event, prizes were awarded to winners in the mine’s internal photography and artwork competition where employees and their children submitted photographs and artwork depicting the importance of protecting the environment and working safely for the sake of one’s family.
Winners in the sketches and artwork category were all awarded M5 000 each towards school fees and school equipment.
First prize winner in the photograph category, Tsiame Hlabaki, on behalf of the winners, expressed gratitude to the mine’s management saying that employee participation in the behaviour-based safety campaign encouraged workers and drives them to practice safety measures in the workplace.
Letšeng Diamond Mine is owned by GEM Diamonds Limited (70 percent) and the Government of Lesotho (30 percent).
It employs approximately 1 300 workers.
