The trade union Solidarity is to join an investigation into the latest accident at Sasol’s Secunda plant on Tuesday, which left a man dead.
The man died on Tuesday morning in an accident in an operation run by a contractor at Sasol’s Secunda plant in Mpumalanga. The accident took place on the second day of a commission of inquiry into the September blast that left 10 dead and 360 injured.
”Solidarity is to cooperate actively with Sasol in an attempt to find ways of improving the safety situation in Sasol. This comes after a high-level meeting between Solidarity and Sasol at the company’s head office,” Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said in a statement.
”The accidents over the past six months remain a source of great concern. Nobody can argue that there is no problem,” Hermann said after the meeting.
Sasol had earlier come under fire from Solidarity for not revealing the report of its own investigation into the September accident.
Hermann said Solidarity will also be given an opportunity to brief the international company Du Pont on the trade union’s views concerning the reasons for the investigation. Du Pont is performing a safety audit at Sasol.
”We have already begun talking to workers at ground level in order to define the problem and come up with proposals. We plan to give the information that we collect to Du Pont, to form part of their investigation,” said Hermann.
The trade union also announced it is to establish its own safety councils in the chemical industry countrywide to ”empower” workers over safety issues and to act as watchdog over safety standards.
Two incidents were recorded at the Natref refinery in Sasolburg.
In the first, in October, a fuel spill caused a fire. In January, a gas leak caused a fire and although no injuries were recorded, 17 people were hospitalised as a precautionary measure. — Sapa