Swakopmund-based Sandvik Mining Namibia recently celebrated reaching its 1,000 LTI-free shifts milestone. “As a team that operates in hazardous environments on a daily basis, we’re extremely proud of this achievement, which has been recorded over the past three years,” Johan Pieters, Territory Manager for Sandvik Mining Namibia, said. Sandvik Mining established operations in Namibia several years ago, originally in Windhoek, and moved to its current site in Swakopmund in 2010. In addition to administrative staff and management, this office employs sales, technical and field service staff as well technical apprentices.
The operation includes a fully fledged 1,000 m2 warehouse carrying stock valued at ZAR15 million – predominantly drill rig parts and rock tools. There is also a workshop where drifter overhauls are carried out. “Our technical team works on four different mining sites in the area – Paladin Resources’ Langer Heinrich operation, Rio Tinto’s Rössing Mine, Areva Namibia and surface contract miner Karibib Moolmans,” Pieters says. “Some of our technicians and apprentices are permanently deployed at these sites and others carry out regular maintenance and service on our equipment at customer operations.
“Safety is top priority in everything we do – I would say it’s become part of our culture and lifestyle and we take a zero tolerance approach to unsafe practices across all our activities. In addition to complying with the safety programmes of our various customers, Sandvik Mining has its own health and safety philosophy and requirements upheld across the global organisation. Our site employs a dedicated safety representative who co-ordinates all our SHEQ systems via weekly meetings, both at our premises and at customer sites. I believe, however, that one of the biggest contributors to our safety record is the attention to potential risk areas and associated activities. We regularly analyse these to ensure that the risk is mitigated,” Pieters concludes.