Over time, companies learn internally how to work in an organised, efficient manner, identify opportunities and make changes accordingly. They also learn how to pinpoint areas where value is added and where it is absent, and evolve over time. That, in a nutshell, is a continuous improvement approach, which can assist businesses to operate on a higher level.
This approach has truly been adopted and demonstrated at Midmar Crushers. The family-owned quarry operation has been part of the ASPASA audit process since 2008 and has been selected as the top independent quarry in either the Environmental (About Face) or Health & Safety (ISHE) audit for seven years. In 2016, however, the operation was named the Top Independent Performer in both categories.
Over the past five years, explains ASPASA ISHE auditor Marius van Deventer, Midmar Crushers was awarded the top independent performer three times, finishing twice in third overall place and once in seventh place over the same period. Since entering the ISHE Audit, the operation has achieved Showplace Status (audit scores of 95% and more) five times. The quarry’s average score since 2008 is 93.32%, an achievement Van Deventer calls “truly an extraordinary health & safety performance to be proud of”.
Commenting on Midmar Crushers’ latest achievement, Van Deventer says management at the operation didn’t necessarily do anything drastically different this time around, but it was a matter of “doing things better on a consistent basis over the years”.
Over the years, management at Midmar Crushers, says Van Deventer, continued to source the right skills and service providers to add value to the different parts of the business. For example, he says, a couple of years ago, Noshcon (Paul Chapmen and Ronelle Affinand) was contracted to join the team as the occupational health and safety consultant. Together with management at Midmar Crushers, they have reassessed risks and developed a sustainable documentation system, thus ensuring high levels of legal compliance.
“Perseverance in every aspect of their business is a winning recipe for Midmar Crushers. Teamwork has also been central to the operation’s success, with everyone pulling in the same direction to close gaps identified from previous audit findings. Closing gaps, however, is half the battle won; ensuring that sustainable corrective actions are put in place and followed up through planned task observations ensures that negative previous audit findings don’t repeat themselves,” says Van Deventer.
The same view is expressed by quarry manager Gary Botha, who says that throughout its 25-year existence, the operation has developed and persevered through the good and challenging times. “Being awarded the Top Performer award for the 2020 ISHE Audit is a huge achievement for the entire Midmar team as we are striving for continual improvement through our health & safety and environmental compliance to ensure safety for all individuals on site. Our business philosophy, “Effecting change through positive contact”, is a true reflection of what we do on a daily basis,” says Botha.
Focusing on effective teamwork has been the key to the success of Midmar Crushers, says Bronwyn Moore, GM of Midmar Group. Working as a “well-oiled machine” paves the way forward, while respect and integrity on all levels of interaction are the foundational values required, she says. As part of this initiative, onsite training has been essential in assisting the team to fully understand the context of their work and to ensure that effective teamwork is realised.
“Health and safety are important not only in the work environment but even in our personal lives too. Regular training is done with the entire Midmar Crushers team as we deem it imperative to keep these topics top of mind. External training service providers train the team on site and equip them with powerful motivating tools such as DVDs, newspapers, magazines and real-life articles that the team can relate to with regards to all aspects of health, caring for the environment, safety hazards in the workplace, as well as relevant issues in personal environments,” explains Moore.
Moore, however, believes that to be successful in these sorts of initiatives, there is a need to have both strong leadership and management capabilities. “Leadership is about getting individuals to comprehend and believe in the vision of the company and to work together on achieving goals, while management is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day activities are happening as they should,” she says.
Leadership and management must go hand in hand, she stresses. “They are not the same thing, but they are bound together and complementary to one another. Any effort to separate the two within an organisation is likely to be disruptive. For any company to be successful, it needs management that can plan, organise and coordinate its staff, while also inspiring and motivating them to perform to the best of their ability,” says Moore.
For Midmar Crushers to be at the top, the Midmar Group has over the years invested in several capital projects to improve processes. There has been continual improvement year on year, says Moore. For example, the crushing plant office, with a good view of the crushing plant, has been built in order to remove employees from the frontline of exposure and place them in a safe working environment. The office is equipped with technology that makes crushing user-friendly. Midmar has also recently installed a bigger jaw crusher (Sandvik CJ211) in the main plant to maximise utilisation of the entire plant.
“Walkways using gabion baskets have been created strategically to minimise man-to-machinery contact as part of the traffic flow process,” she says. “Signage has been strategically placed around Midmar Crushers to guide and control the flow of machinery, staff and visitors and to promote keeping the site clean and tidy.”
Managing health & safety during a pandemic such as COVID-19 has been a test for many operations. Moore alludes to the fact that COVID-19 has been a big challenge around the world and has brought about enormous devastation of the economy and the population. How did Midmar Crushers manage to deal with the challenges brought about by the pandemic?
“After the initial lockdown we started returning to work with an adjusted ‘normal’ which was unpredictable and required flexibility and rapid response. We had decided as a team to face it head-on and accept it as a new reality. Learning and sharing on a daily basis about the challenges and new information received from around the world was at times very difficult,” she says.
Regulations implemented by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the guidelines set down in the National Disaster Management Act, created extra work in the implementation of new policies, procedures, training and checklists, to name a few. “We, however, persevered and ensured all were implemented and continue to be implemented to safeguard the safety of all individuals who work at or visit our quarry,” concludes Moore.
