INYATSI IS AFRICA’S SAFEST CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

MANZINI – A cut above the rest!  Inyatsi Construction Group Holdings is now the first construction company in Africa to obtain SACAS 45001 and 14001 ISO certifications.

The ISO 45001:2018 certificate means Inyatsi has been assessed and found to satisfy the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems certification while the ISO 14001:2015 certificate is for Environmental Management Systems.

Both certificates, which were attained after 18 months of evaluation, are in respect of quality and safe civil engineering and concrete construction and associated work standards. The company was officially presented with its certification by the South African and Audit Services Company on at the Inyatsi Construction Boardroom yesterday.

SACAS is an assessment provider for all types of management systems and their processes as well as a product, process and service certification provider. It provides complete, reliable and high-quality auditing and certification services in respect of various standards.
Managing Director (MD) of SACAS Deon Du Toit commended Inyatsi for this achievement.

first

“This is the first ISO 45001 certification we hand out in Eswatini and the third in Africa. However, in Africa, it is the first for a construction company because the other two from us were for consultancy and manufacturing. So this is quite an achievement. Such certification is very important because it shows that the company adheres to safety and quality standards,” he said.

He said occupational health and safety was something that was very important for every organisation. “It is not just a system we establish and implement in an organisation to manage health and safety but it is also to conform with legislative requirements. It also looks into the overall strategic goals that you have looked at as an organisation for yourselves from a business perspective,” he said.

He noted that achieving this was not easy but through collaborated effort and dedication to the cause, Inyatsi did so within the 18 months of assessment.

teams

The Inyatsi Group Chief Executive Officer, John Hamilton, gave credit to the teams that have been working hard to ensure that the systems are implemented in order to get the accreditation.

“It means that we can give our clients comfort that they are dealing with a company that is stable and has quality systems that are not only recognised worldwide but are also audited by independent parties. We have good safety records,” he said.

To employees, he said this meant Inyatsi was providing a safe environment for them to work in and that is one of the main reasons they started the process in the first place.

“From a quality point of view, what it means is that the employees can take pride in that they are producing world-class products.
“Also, because we are providing a good quality product, it gives us a competitive edge and that means there is more sustainability. This translates to job security to the employees,” he said.

injuries

Du Toit also noted that in terms of figures, Inyatsi had very low incident rate of 0.1 per year, meaning injuries at work were less than 1 per year in the organisation.

He said because of this, Inyatsi was performing quite well as sometimes in other organisations, the rate may be much higher per year.
“Inyatsi is highly rated in terms of the low incident frequency rates. A fatal incident costs a company in the region of E10 million to E15 million, not to even talk about lost time because of the incident.

“Your customer, at the end of the day, wishes to deal with an organisation that has this kinds of control measures in place and that is where the benefits come from,” he said.

He said therefore, work done by such certified companies meant they do it within the set time limits without delays due to any injuries and that was what they aimed for.

Since being established in 1982, Inyatsi has always prioritised safety. Currently, Inyatsi Group Holdings (PTY) LTD has 30 sites running in four different countries. 

Its achievements include that in 2014, Inyatsi Group Holdings engaged into the NOSA 5-star integrated management system and achieved a 4-star rating in 2015 where they as a group maintained the four-stars until 2017. 
“In 2018, Inyatsi Group Holdings changed service providers from NOSA 5-star integrated management system to ISO 14001 and ISO45001 where we were audited and recommended for the certification that has since been presented,” he said.
In brief ISO certification certifies that a management system, manufacturing process, service, or documentation procedure, has all the requirements for standardisation and quality assurance.
ISO standards are in place to ensure consistency. Each certification has separate standards and criteria and is classified numerically.

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