By KENNEDY MUPESENI –
QUALITY Business Consultant Holdings Limited, a quality assurance international consultancy firm, has urged mining houses in the country to adhere to quality and safety standards to meet production targets.
Managing quality consultant Joseph Mwansa said in an interview that as mining houses strive to shift to cost-effective means of production, there was need to stick to quality and safety standards.
“Quality and safety standards go hand in hand. If an injury occurs during working hours, it can lead to necessity work stoppage, thereby technically affecting production targets and revenue.
“For example if a company projects to make a revenue of K5 billion by 2020, being 2016, which means every year the company is supposed to be making K1.25 billion per year for four years, and every day, the firm is supposed to generate production worth K3,472,222 which can be lost in a day due to an accident,” Mr Mwansa said.
Meanwhile, the second national safety health environment conference that gets underway in Kitwe today to discuss quality and safety issues has attracted more than 60 participants from various economic sectors as well as statutory bodies.
The conference is aimed at creating a forum for the exchange of technical know-how in improving quality, environmental management and occupational health as well as safety in enterprises.
Mr Mwansa said the Zambian industry was growing rapidly in sectors such as mining, agriculture, logistics, manufacturing, construction and tourism, hence the need for a robust occupational health and safety culture.
“Environmental culture and quality culture cannot be overemphasised in pursuit of both competitiveness and higher returns on investment.
“In fact quality goods and services has been a constant call for years since the liberalisation of the Zambian economy,” he said.