BIT

Well finally we have moved out training and joined BIT. The Training Department was not easy. One had to apply himself or herself to grasp the concepts and also to improve one's performance evertime.

I would say that training required one to be patient and also understanding because we worked as a group.The level of understanding,interpretation and also the manner we brought it forth was always going to be different. Some people loved training and others did not but the common thing is that all of us benefited from the training department.

Now lets talk about BIT. Well things in the first week started very slowly and I was bored out of skull. During this week we attended a few training session but nothing out of the ordinary. We are used to seeing people training other people and I started seeing some mistakes that were being committed by the trainers but that is ok because they have not gone through the intense training that we went through.

The second week was a bit interesting because we went to do our medicals and the inductions.

We all passed the medicals and that was interesting to see the sought of things that workers have to go through in order to have a job. But it shows commitment by the mine in the health facility that they provide for their workers.

Well BHP Billiton's inductions is much better organized and presented than Murray & Roberts' one that we attended at Melrose Arch when we spent about two weeks on their site working for a constructor.

We started working on the software but that was nothing new caused we had received training on it.

But what I found to be interesting is the software that BHP has relating to Risk Assessment and how it can be combined with our own BBS software to create a hybrid software that covers the safety process in its entirety.

The third week has been interesting in that we have been doing some productive work. We have been compiling and populating the BBS software with critical conditions and task.

This is not difficult rather tedious but necessary for our development and experience. I have to say I have learnt a lot during the past weeks. Our supervisor has been helpful but you must prove yourself to him that you can do the work before he can entrust you with some responsibilities. In this instance I think I have done enough to convince him that I can do the work.

During the remaining weeks my objectives are to learn and take the experience back to the office and look at how we can improve our software,systems and also how we can standardize the terms and descriptions of conditions and tasks throughout .

PRESENTATIONS

Finally, after months months of preparation the moment has arrived. Next week we are having our formal assessments on our presentation skills.
It has not been an easy road but we have persevered and I hope we all do well in this respect.
Reece Khan has been very valuable with his inputs and actually helped us in various ways.
Lots of good things have been happening to the PDP Candidates especially the vote of confidence on our professionalism. It is the truth though, whenever we are given a task the PDP Candidates always give their all.
This week has been very hectic because we had to jostle between the marketing presentation and also preparing our own presentations.
Within the next few weeks we are moving to BIT and that is exciting and also interesting.
On a personal note, I have been studying very hard and I will be submitting two of my assignments and well ahead of the due dates. This is very important for me because it allows me to be free and also to concentrate no my work since we are going to be working away from the office in the next few weeks.

BACK TO WORK

Well the holidays are over and it is time for work. Several thing have occurred in the past three weeks in that we have made great strides with our Health and Safety System.
We have learnt that the HIRA's that we conducted were no adequate and that we have to perform this exercise again. But great lessons were learnt. If I must say attending the HIRA course has greatly improved the way we view hazards and risks.
The most profound thing that i learnt in the course is that corrective measures should terminate the risk totally and should not be a temporary thing.
On a personal level I think my presentation skills are improving.
this is attributed to the fact that I have learnt to calm down and breathing in.
This week we are actually rolling out our Health and Safety System in that we are goin to have our first health and safety meeting.
I will probably chair that meeting.
I think that our value as a group is starting to emerge in that we had a meeting with MR Ben Burger and requested us to assist him in developing future products for the company and this is exciting.
I hope we do well in this exercise.

success at last

Last week we finally presented and what a relief. we finally did it right and I must say the guys were awsome. We were able to cover every angle that the director could think off and that was great. But now the big job lies ahead of us because we have to get the health and safety system up and running. The challenge that i foresee is that we have to make the system so easy to use in that when we leave someone can take over the system run it without any difficulty. Our coordinator is already asking us about time lines and that is excellent because it shows proactiveness on his part.
We have already started with our Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments and this is opening our minds to a new experience because we get to see how this game is played out practically.

On a personal level life is great and the understanding within the group is growing. and that is a positive thing.

observation

Personally it has been a very slow week. We started the week with the Riskmaq1 observations.
I learnt a thing or two but I believe the only way one would find out whether they are ready to present is to the actually present a module. I think that opportunity will come sooner than later in that if the health and safety system gets of the ground IRCA's personell will have to be taken to a safety awareness course and that course will be presented by us the PDP's. the haelth and safety system framework is coming rather slowly than anticipated in that each one of us had their own ideas of how should be layed out. But majority wins in that if the majority agreed on an issue then the losing party will have to abide by the decision of the group.
I guess this time we did more consulting and the ideas that we have actually demonstrates this.
Personnally I hope this time we get it right because we have discussing and arguing our points of view. Some of us argued more than others for our views to be heard and considered. But I conceded my views to allign them with the group.

Interviews

Today has been a very frustrating day relating to the interviews. We thought we were on the right track with the interviews only to be told by the mentors that our question were too wide and too general and that threw us off course. We had go back to the drawing board and redo and compile questions that were specific. This exercise took time and effort.
We are almost done with the policy of our health and safety system. I believe once we have this the plan of action is going to be a simple task.

Marketing the RISKMAQ product

The week started with us returning to Strydom Park to do HIRA that is (Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments). I think that all of us understood the concepts and what needed to be done. Even though it is a small site in comparison to the ones that we have visited before but the non-conformities are all the same. We found that the workers were not wearing hard hats and not wearing safety harnesses when working on heights. Some dangerous sections on site were not barricaded.
Analysing worker's behaviour and their attitudes was the most interesting. It seemed to me that the workers were indifferent about their own safety and their colleagues.
Yesterday we went to an expo relating to safety and if I must say it was interesting. We basically had to market the Riskmaq course.
We had to explain the PDP program and how it is connected to the Riskmaq to the people at the expo.
Most of the people were interested on how you get to part 4 of the Riskmaq where you get your degree with the University if Free State.
IRCA has a lot of work to do in marketing this program.