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.
Chris Coetzee accepting the FEM Mentorship of the year award. All images supplied by Chris Coetzee
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 copy- and-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.
Sharfudien Martin of PPEW in Cape Town winning the Mentee of the year award.
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.
What can you expect for this year’s programme? More intense visits, audits and training, with the introduction of additional courses such as:
- Working at heights
- SHE Representatives (Safety Files)
These additional courses, site visits and training are there to give insight into the main concerns the plumbing industry is facing and provide valuable input to achieving a health and safety goal, that of ‘zero is no accident’ (The Zero Is No Accident campaign is part of FEM’s commitment to championing better occupational health and safety within the construction industry, and beyond).
Through our visits and discussions with plumbers, we have seen that plumbing is dear to your hearts, and some of you even want to make changes and impact the industry in more ways. We appreciate your commitment and commend you for your efforts thus far. So let us recognise those who have made an impact, take time out to commend those in your companies, teams and personal life for their commitment and hard work, never underestimate the power of a good word and recognition for achieving something even small, as these will lead to greater accomplishments in the future.
With Occupational Health and Safety laws and regulations constantly changing and adapting, we urge all our plumbing members as well as those in our industry to take seriously the health and safety of their companies, employees and those exposed to your scope of plumbing works. We are excited to continue working with you throughout this year and into the future to achieve health and safety excellence.
In 2025, FEM was generous enough to provide funding for more mentorships to be carried out. Are you taking advantage of the amazing benefits of this programme and other membership-based benefits IOPSA offers?
