26
HEALTH AND SAFETY
Recognising safe plumbers
By
Chris Coetzee, OHSS consultant
IOPSA, in collaboration with FEM and OHSS Consulting, invited its 2024 members to be a part of the Health and Safety Mentorship Programme for 2024.
This initiative was sponsored by the FEM( The Federated Employers Mutual Assurance Company( RF)) and was offered to all members free of charge. Lets recap what took place.
Starting off the Mentorship Programme, Chris Coetzee from the safety department of IOPSA, set up a registration link for the members to register for the programme. Once members completed their desire to join as well as motivation for why they felt this mentorship would benefit them, they were soon contacted by the mentor to discuss the way forward.
The mentorship programme was made up of the P. R. I. M. E. courses which were:
• Introduction to the OHS Act
• Legal Liability
• SHE Representation
• Introduction to HIRA
• HIRA for Plumbers
• Incident Management
• Emergency Management
Mentees were then also invited to attend classroom-based courses:
• Firefighting
• First Aid
Throughout the mentorship programme the mentees would need to complete each course and then implement what they learned in their own workplaces. These important safety requirements- as set out in the South African legislation for Occupational Health and Safety- are vital for all employers to understand and implement, the mentorship programme. It was designed to give employers and employees the knowledge and understanding of what is required as well as practical application of developing their own safety systems.
During this 2024 mentorship programme 10 members were selected and took part in the programme. One individual stood out as someone who took seriously, not only in the mentorship programme itself, but occupational health and safety as a whole- Sharfudien Martin from PPEW in Cape Town. He shone through as he took advantage of the programme and spent time online and in person with Chris Coetzee the mentor. Throughout the months of safety programmes, onsite audits and site visits as well as many discussions focusing on health and safety, Sharfudien excelled on sites, to the point that even the principal contractors on site would ask him to handle safety talks, SHE committee meetings and assist with other health and safety related items onsite.
What did this mean to us at IOPSA? It should show us the value of health and safety training for our members and in particular, applying health and safety legislation to our industry in specific methods- not just in a copyand-paste way, but seeing if we change the industry standard of health and safety nationwide.
Since this was the first time IOPSA attempted a mentorship programme for health and safety for its members, we had many lessons learned along the way. So, we took note of these and started to plan for our 2025 mentorship programme, with keen focus on OHS compliance within our industry.
IOPSA was also proud to receive the Mentorship of the Year award at the annual FEM health and safety conference. This award was truly appreciated as it showed the valuable input from all members who partook of the programme. The mentorship programme for occupational health and safety is there to assist you in the industry to know and understand what is required of you and what can be implemented to mitigate plumbing risks. The most important thing is to bring our plumbers home safely, so that they can continue to impact our industry positively.
For the 2025 mentorship programme, the focus on self-compliance and external compliance are motivators in what we have developed. So, starting off the 2025 programme, we have already asked members to join using the registration link provided, if you still want to join, please contact safety @ iopsa. org
www. plumbingafrica. co. za @ plumbingonline @ plumbingonline @ PlumbingAfricaOnline July 2025 Volume 31 I Number 05