Safety in the workplace

It’s no mystery that mining and construction industries is risky business. The exposure to health and safety hazards at the workplace range from minor onsite injuries to tragic fatalities. Even a short term incident, such as a trip or a fall due to inappropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) precautions, could have long term ramifications on an individual if preventative procedures are not followed through, not to mention heavy legal implications.  

As a developing country, South Africa relies heavily on its construction and mining sectors to ensure prosperous economic growth as well as decent employment opportunities. The South African Occupational Health and Safety Act was put in place to ensure that employers are providing and maintaining the appropriate work attire or, PPE, to protect their employees against hazards such as falling objects, sharp edges, flying sparks, chemicals and noise.  

Kwena Protect and work safety

The partnership between Kwena Group Holdings CEO, Eben de Jongh and former Springbok Rugby Captain, Corne Krige, was another strategic business decision to maintain Kwena’s reputation as a full turnkey solutions service provider to all Kwena Group stakeholders and subsidiaries. The increasing demand for skilled labour in the mining, oil and gas, petrochemical, engineering and construction industries meant that more resources required appropriate work attire in order to conform with legislation. 

“The most important aspect of our offering, as Kwena Protect, is that we would like to offer companies, a “turnkey solution”, not limited to workwear only. We are in the fortunate position to offer a holistic approach, sourcing the best products at the best prices in order to save our customers time and money.” Justine Krige, Director Kwena Protect

Kwena Protect was the perfect fit for Kwena Group Holdings, providing a wide range of quality PPE solutions including arcwear, footwear, industrial wear, safety clothing and PPE accessories to a number of industries, including but not limited to the construction, mining, industrial, oil and gas, security, chemical, corporate and hospitality labour hire verticals. 

“Our pipeline projects include conceptualising and implementing onsite facilities for client transactions in the form of consignment and onsite stores with add on facilities such as protocol technology. We are currently increasing the awareness of our PPE offering through our subsidiary companies.” – Nazeem Southgate, Senior Sales Consultant at Kwena Protect

As a proudly South African entity, Kwena Protect is committed to building relationships with South African manufacturers, such as the BBF Safety Group, which includes the forward thinking Sisi Brand, a female focused PPE supplier to the local industry.  

Bridging the gender gap:

While South Africa boasts one of the highest gender diversity rankings in the mining industry at board level as well as a progressive stance on gender equality in the construction industry, the issues faced by women in traditionally male dominated industries are still alarming.

Despite the obvious psychological issues caused by onsite gender discrimination and misconceptions around women being unable to work as well as men do under physically demanding work conditions, the awareness around the importance of female specific PPE is still grossly misunderstood.     

“One size does not fit all. Manufacturers of PPE focused their time and effort producing garments that would suit the contours of a man’s body, in an effort to improve comfort and increase productivity. Much research has been spent looking into the ergonomics of a corporate space with proven results. If the same concept is applied to those wearing Workwear, we can conclude that the more comfortable a worker is, the better they will perform.” – Vanessa Ronald, Senior Brand Manager at Sisi, BBF Safety Group

The Sisi range takes human anatomy into account when it comes to their agile and forward thinking PPE range, producing a wide variety of arcwear, safety jackets, overalls, trousers as well as footwear designed for women in the workplace. Partnering with this innovative brand supports Kwena Protect’s value proposition to their clients, ensuring a safe, low risk, high protection solution for both men and women.

For a free quotation, contact nazeem@kwena.net. Our extended service offering includes branding (screen printing and embroidery), specialised brand procurement and Risk Assessment Management solutions through our sister company, Kwena Risk Solutions.