Healthy workers for better roads

Sanral is committed to the quality of the country's national roads, but also to the quality of life of its workers. It implements a wellness programme which paves the way to a happier, healthier construction industry.

While the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) is focused on its mandate of improving and maintaining its national road network, it has placed a focus on restoring and maintaining the dignity of labourers working on its projects and their families by implementing an integrated wellness programme on all Limpopo routine road maintenance (RRM) projects.

The wellness programme, which is centred around health risk assessment, facilitation of health topics and monitoring, has been running concurrently with the 12 RRM projects from January 2016.

Testing for HIV, TB, cholesterol, glucose and body mass index has provided some valuable insights and has led to the establishment of an emergency 24/7 call centre which workers, especially those with adverse issues, can utilise for health management and counselling.

The call centre grants employees and their family members access to biologic monitoring and psychological counselling which assists with stress management, substance abuse and critical incident management.

The roads which Sanral builds and maintains connect people to opportunities and serve as a vehicle for the province's economy. Thus, project interruptions due to absenteeism and low levels of productivity are an unwanted inconvenience. In view of this, Sanral's management team acknowledged that it was important to invest in bringing health facilities to their people.

"Our mandate is to build a better South Africa for all citizens. While we are achieving this through the improvement of our roads, it is important to us that those who actually get their hands dirty to achieve this are also well taken care of", says Vusi Mona, Manager: Communications.

Besides the obvious health benefits to workers and the community, the implementation of the programme has also had an impact on unemployment in project areas. On each project Sanral commences, they appoint a Wellness Champion who is tasked with educating and informing labourers on healthy living.

Says Mona: "While we strive to create better working conditions on a daily basis, we celebrate the successes of our wellness programme in the month of May which places a particular emphasis on workers and their wellness."

According to Tshegare Moletsane, Sanral Project Manager in Limpopo, educating labourers has brought about some considerable changes. It has dealt with the stigma around HIV/Aids and more men on site have embraced the importance of being tested and knowing their state of health.

Following the many successes of the rollout, Sanral has taken this programme national and with its footprint across South Africa, one can only imagine the impact it has had on communities across the country, says Mona.