Employee health and safety
The workplace safety legislation to which Old Mutual complies is in accordance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In summary, we:
- Issue reports covering all staff occupational injuries to the Compensation Commissioner within 14 days;
- Adhere to national policies concerning occupational health services;
- Provide constant surveillance of the working environment and the health of workers;
- Provide information, education, training advice to workers and to employers;
- Provide first-aid treatment and health programmes, including an onsite clinic staffed by a qualified doctor and medical staff;
- Offer preventative and maintenance programmes (including reproductive health, blood pressure, diabetes, eye screening); and
- Comply with reporting on Occupational Health and Safety through the collaboration of various services within the organisation.
Key to the staff safety programme is the provision of able safety teams within the organisation, the protection of confidential health information and the professional independence of the Occupational Health and Safety personnel.
All Business Units have health and safety committees, each comprised of the management nominee and Health and Safety officials. Although no formal agreement with unions regarding safety structures exists, the largest union (OMREB) currently represents all employees on health-related issues.
The table below reflects the Old Mutual safety record:
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2004
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2003
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2002
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Days lost due to injury sustained while on duty
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36
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127
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101
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Percentage of individual workers (measured against number of permanent employees)
injured on duty during 2004
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0.3
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0.3
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0.2
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(unaudited)
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(unaudited)
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A safety manager has been appointed who oversees the activities of a First-Aid Co-Ordinator at Mutualpark. The duties of the First-Aid Co-Ordinator are to provide robust and related communications with all personnel and business units, to ensure sufficiently high standards of first-aid provision, and to maintain equipment throughout the building. In addition, the Co-Ordinator must conduct regular audits of equipment and volunteers, and ensure a constant state of readiness in the event of a state of emergency.
The fully-manned clinic at Mutualpark offers various services to staff, including eye screening; preventative medicine (countering influenza and hepatitis among other diseases); a reproductive health clinic and biological monitoring.
"I thought I knew everything I needed to know about HIV/AIDS but during the training we learned many other facts about AIDS and HIV. We gained insight into the fear and prejudice that surrounds this illness. We gasped, laughed and cried. We questioned and challenged. We had our personality profiles and our body language analysed and discussed. The training is not always
comfortable. Our trainers stressed that our function is a support role. We are here to extend the hand of friendship to our peers, to advise them of the services offered by Old Mutual and to help those impacted by HID/AIDS. We are here to walk alongside them."
AM RODRIGUES
HIV/AIDS Peer Educator
HIV/AIDS in the workplace
Old Mutual has a long record of involvement in the management of the HIV/AIDS disease, both within the company and within the wider society. That involvement will continue as the challenges posed by the disease show no signs of abating.
The UNAIDS Report issued by the World Health Organisation in late 2004 shows that prevalence of the virus has risen in each region of the world over the last two years. Women now make up nearly half of the 37.2 million adults (aged 15 to 49) living with HIV worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, close to 60% of adults living with HIV are women. Southern African prevalence rates surpass 25%. The Actuarial Society of South Africa in 2004 released the most recent version of their AIDS and Demographic model for projecting the impact of HIV/AIDS on the South African population. The model, known as the ASSA2002 model, predicts that some five million South Africans are currently infected with HIV.
Over the last three years various initiatives have continued throughout Old Mutual to combat the disease. One such initiative is the free for staff, confidential and counsellor-supported "Know Your Status" service that enables people to protect others by knowing whether they are HIV positive or negative. Where members of staff or their family are found to be positive, they are supported through the Employee Wellbeing Programme and will receive the necessary medical care, including antiretroviral medication. The service is kept strenuously private and confidential.
In addition, the Peer Education Programme trains some staff to provide support and guidance to affected fellow staff members. And the HIV/AIDS Management Programme guides infected employees through the various stages of their illness, ensuring they lead a full, healthy and productive life.
An ongoing message within Old Mutual is that there are very practical steps that staff can take to manage the disease. Staff members are encouraged throughout the year to: know their own status; change their attitudes towards HIV/AIDS; protect themselves through abstinence and/or condoms; and to support those who are infected or affected, primarily via the "Adopt" an Orphan programme run by the Old Mutual Foundation.
The tone of all communication is encouraging, but honest. Staff as a whole are prodded to stay involved, and to be positive about efforts to combat the disease.
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