Occupational safety and health

The clinic at AngloGold Ashanti's corporate office was initially established to provide occupational health and primary health care services to corporate office employees but the company's steady expansion abroad has meant the clinic has had to rise to new challenges.

The clinic currently has five key focus areas: occupational health; primary health care; implementing AngloGold Ashanti's HIV/AIDS programme for the corporate office; annual executive medicals; and managing the health care aspects of business travel.

Sister Willemien (Will) McKechnie comments, "A lot of what we do in terms of occupational health is standard as in most large companies, but there have been some new developments. For example, with effect from January 2005, all employees in the corporate office will be examined each year for a certificate of fitness." This initiative, spearheaded by AngloGold Health Service (AHS) will ensure that all corporate office employees (currently some 400) will go through a basic medical examination at intervals varying according to the nature of the job. "This will give us valuable early warning of such conditions as diabetes and hypertension," explains McKechnie.

Pre-employment medicals are in place for people who are to be assigned to tropical areas, and, from next year, clinic staff will also carry out exit medical examinations for all employees leaving the company.

"We also run a thorough check on people about to be transferred to operations outside South Africa, particularly the rest of Africa," explains McKechnie. "Some conditions provide a predisposition to an illness - a patient who has had a splenectomy, for example - has a very high risk of developing malaria. Other conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and epilepsy bring with them a set of problems that may be difficult to manage at a remote site. A history of heart disease would also prompt special attention."

AngloGold Ashanti's globalisation has had an impact upon the clinic's scope of responsibility, principally as concerns Africa, South America (travel to which requires yellow fever immunisations) and some of the countries where exploration is carried out, such as China, India or Russia.

McKechnie explains, "Yellow fever immunisations may only be administered under licence from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Department of Health by appropriately qualified people."

Dave Barnes (occupational health consultant) and Zahan Eloff (occupational medical practitioner) hold the travel clinic's licence, both having recently obtained the appropriate travel medicine qualification at the University of the Witwatersrand. Both Sisters McKechnie and Lynn Silcock have also completed the travel medicine qualification: they are in fact the only two nurses within AHS to have obtained this qualification.

Apart from yellow fever, McKechnie and Silcock carry out all necessary immunisations for people travelling outside South Africa, as well as providing everyone with a comprehensive medical travel kit appropriate to the region they will be visiting.

"We also offer a comprehensive briefing service to people travelling to areas requiring awareness of health hazards," says McKechnie, "For example, we would give practical advice on how to avoid exposure to malaria."

The clinic's workload in this area has grown significantly in recent years. "For example, in October 2004 we briefed 100 employees regarding foreign travel, compared with 60 in October 2000. Immunisations for the same two months totalled 33 and 20 respectively."