OYU TOLGOI LAUNCHES HAND-SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Oyu Tolgoi is focusing on raising awareness of the risks to hands among its workforce, while encouraging the wider public to protect their hands too. About it says the company in its website. The most common accidents involve injuries to hands and feet, according to statistics in Mongolia. Such injuries mainly occur at the workplace as well as at home. They range from cutting hands and fingers while preparing meals, to crushing and pinch-point injuries while working with equipment. There are even cases where people completely lost hands. A.Tsengelmaa, a head of the Labour Conditions Research Department of Ya.Munkhchuluun’s Occupational Health Research Centre, says:"Oyu Tolgoi does exemplary work in occupational safety. They put safety above anything else. Their safety training is carried out regularly and a Risk Demonstration Centre for safety training has been established. I support the company’s new hand safety campaign. Generally, we should always remember than any injury stems ultimately from negligence and being careless and carefree. Mongolian people have this common problem. If safety rules are enforced strictly, we can avoid accidents and injuries.” B.Battulga, Oyu Tolgoi’s safety Superintendent, added: “There is virtually no task which doesn’t involve hands. The human hand will not grow again - it is given to humans only once. Imagine if you lacked hands and fingers. Try to do anything while bending one finger out of the way. It’s hard, isn’t it? In our industry, hands and fingers play the most important role and are always at risk. All possible measures must be taken to reduce this risk. Everyone's participation in our hand safety campaign is important. During this time, we are planning a variety of activities to provide training to employees to give them the necessary knowledge and information”. In September, Oyu Tolgoi’s safety motto will be "Look Before You Touch". "No matter for how many years you have done this task for, you cannot assume it is safe. Every day you should always consider whether you could injure your hands and fingers. Instead of learning lessons from injuries, it is much more important to prevent hazards in the first place".