Bamburi Cement Launches a Safety Month for its employees

Safety Month to be marked at 3,000 Lafarge Group sites around the world

Mombasa, Kenya – June 02, 2009 – Bamburi Cement Group has announced the launch of the 2009 "June Safety Month" – a month-long campaign devoted to safety awareness programs and training, for the company’s employees, as well as their families, contractors and local communities.

 

 

Bamburi Cement Group Managing Director, Hussein Mansi demonstrates proper use of safety harness equipment on an employee.This was during the launch of the company’s safety campaign which will run throughout the month of June.

 

Starting 2nd of June 2009, Bamburi Cement has lined up a variety of events aimed at raising awareness among employees, subcontractors and the communities living near the company's installations regarding safety at work, on the roads and in the home. This is the second time Bamburi Cement will be holding the June Safety Month, which also take place at all of the some 3,000 sites in the 79 countries where Lafarge Group has presence.

 

Said Hussein Mansi, Group Managing Director, Bamburi Cement, “Although safety is an everyday focus for us at Bamburi Cement, we have decided to dedicate the month of June to reiterate, focus and refresh our personal and collective commitment to safety”.

 

For Lafarge, the safety of its employees and its subcontractors is an absolute priority. Already one of the safest companies in its sector, Lafarge has nonetheless set itself the objective of becoming one of the world's leading industrial groups in terms of safety. To achieve this, in 2006 the Group drew up an ambitious roadmap, covering all aspects of performance in terms of health and safety.

 

 

Employees and contractors of Bamburi Cement Mombasa Plant sign the Health & Safety Engagement form as their commitment to thecompany’s safetyobjectives.This was during the launch of the company’s safety campaign which will run throughout the month of June.

 

Creation of a dedicated organization, reporting to top management
A Group health and safety department, reporting directly to the Chairman and CEO, supervises and coordinates the activities of health and safety managers throughout the Group’s business units, who themselves report to the highest managerial level within their units.

 

Development of Group standards, deployed worldwide
In 2006, Lafarge launched a new safety policy and rules, which every one of the Group's 84,000 employees has signed, representing their commitment to the approach. The four most high risk situations in the Group's professional activities have been identified: working at height, power insulation tasks, access to confined spaces and use of mobile equipment. Standards have been defined and deployed for each of these operations in all units worldwide, enabling each site to ensure that the accident prevention rules are implemented.

 

 

Bamburi Cement Group Managing Director leads the company’s employees and contractors in signing the Health & Safety Engagement form as their commitment to the company’s safety objectives. This was during the launch of the company’s safety campaign which will run throughout the month of June. Looking on is the company’s Group Marketing Director, Robert Nyangaya

 

Leadership and empowerment of managers
Safety has become a key career management criterion within the Group. The health and safety roadmap's results and state of progress are now part of the annual performance and bonus criteria applicable to all operational managers. Stronger efforts to raise awareness among employees

 

Developing the sharing of best practice among business units
To create internal momentum and encourage business units to adopt best practices already developed elsewhere in the Group, Lafarge has set up a "Safety Excellence Club" to reward performance at the best business units. Those units which have achieved a high level of performance in terms of safety are eligible to join. These units are awarded a label enabling them to promote their results in terms of safety, comprising a wide variety of communications materials.

 

Note: Bamburi Cement KES s set aside 100 Million this year on driving its safety agenda throughout the East Africa region.