WIETA News


 3 new sites accredited by WIETA

Congratulations to the Badsberg Cellar in Wellington, Villiera Wines near Paarl, and Fairview Trust Vineyards and Cellar (also near Paarl) on their accreditation, bringing the total number of accredited sites to 12!


    
Villiera WIETA accreditation November 2005

We have received more improvement plans from members who have been audited, including Swartland Winery, Robertson Winery and Co-operative, Rustenburg Estate, and La Motte Estate, and wish to thank those responsible for the plans for their input and commitment to the process. We are in the process of evaluating and responding to these, and we hope that all of these sites will be accredited soon.

At an accreditation meeting held recently it was decided that workplaces should submit their improvement plans within 6 months of being audited. We would appreciate it if all of those workplaces that have been audited provide us with feedback on the steps that they are taking to meet the requirements of the code, even if they have not yet implemented all of the measures that they intend taking in this regard. It is important for us to get a good sense of the progress that is being made on this, and to gain a better understanding of any possible difficulties that members are having in implementing aspects of the code.

Over the past few months, we have set up meetings at a number of audited worksites to discuss audit processes and findings and to discuss progress in the development of improvement plans, especially where audit processes were conducted in 2004. We intend to continue these discussions with both producer and worker representatives over the next few months. We have received both positive feedback and constructive criticism from the parties on audit processes, and are very grateful for both inputs. In getting this feedback, we have been able to consider our interpretation of the code and to strengthen our processes, and this has facilitated our growth and development as an organisation.
 

Developments affecting health and safety

As more and more WIETA members have had site audits, and are involved in the processes of action plans and accreditation, several important occupational health and safety issues have become the focus for discussions between WIETA staff, the member companies, and the WIETA board members involved on the WIETA accreditation committee. This has been useful in that it has helped to define our health and safety standards so that we can be consistent in requiring all members to approach each item in the Code on health and safety in the same way. Here are three of these issues, and the joint approach that has emerged towards them:

Farm Dams

Members have pointed out that a blanket requirement to fence all farm dams is not appropriate. The consensus from the discussion at the WIETA accreditation committee on this issue was as follows:

1.

Dams are a considerable danger to farm children, especially boys between the ages of about 6 and 15 (from research conducted in South Africa and internationally)

2.

Fencing dams is not necessarily the best way of preventing young people living on the farms swimming in the dams, or otherwise endangering their safety in the dam. Fences are easy to climb over or under.

3.

The most important thing is that a realistic assessment of the risk of injury or death is included in the health and safety risk assessment for the WIETA member company.

4.

Risk factors that should be considered include:

 

•

frequency of past incidence of death or injury at dams;

 

•

numbers of “at risk” children living on the farm;

 

•

proximity & accessibility of the dams to houses;

 

•

absence of barriers to entry (fencing etc);

 

•

absence of suitable warning signs at the dam;

 

•

low awareness in the farm community about the danger and avoiding it;

 

•

lack of a well-communicated farm policy (especially with regard to parents and community leaders, crèche workers etc);

 

•

lack of alternative arrangements for children to swim during the hot summer months;

 

 

 lack of availability of demarcated safe bathing area at the dam;

 

 

availability of life-saver(s) at the dam at specified times;

 

•

swimming lessons for “at risk” children;

 

•

absence of equipment such as life-bouys attached to the shore.

Whether the arrangements at a farm are adequate with regard to dam safety will depend on how these factors stack up, and what is in place to prevent an accident in the specific circumstances at each farm.

Bulk Wine Filtration – managing hazardous chemical substances

Diamaceous Earth (Kieselguhr) is used in powder form  for bulk wine filtration. It contains free crystalline silica, which is a regulated hazardous chemical substance. Over a long period, breathing in very fine (invisible in normal light) dust from it can cause a chronic and worsening lung disease called silicosis, which cannot be cured, and which eventually causes ever-increasing shortness of breath, and a painful and undignified death. The Department of Labour has mounted a National Programme for the Elimination of Silicosis, thereby recognising this occupational disease as a significant public health issue, which is made worse because it interacts with TB – some researchers have found that it can actually increase a person’s risk of getting active Tuberculosis. This problem is not well understood in the wine industry, whereas it is common knowledge in hard rock mining, where a great deal of research is devoted to controlling and monitoring the risk.  


    
 Dust from filtration powder is a serious health hazard in cellars.

The WIETA standard for controlling this risk follows that of the Hazardous Chemical Substances regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. WIETA thus requires the following for accreditation of wine cellars: 

a)

Conduct risk assessment

 

•

 Involve the OHS representatives and safety committee.

 

•

 Include all stages of storage, handling, use and disposal of the Earth.

 

•

 Dust survey required by a qualified industrial hygienist – representative measurements must be taken of the concentration of dust in the air over an 8-hour period.

 

•

 Representative measurements should include full day static samples taken at the busiest time of the year, month, week of wine filtration, as well as personal samples upon workers who are the most exposed in all aspects of filtration – handling the powder and filling the filter units.

b)

Provide Medical surveillance program for workers exposed to risk

 

•

 Include those workers identified by the risk assessment as exposed to air with an 8-hour average concentration of respirable particles of Earth dust that is greater than the standard in OHSA hazchem regulations (1,5mg/m3). If no dust survey is conducted, all cellar workers who spend time on dusty tasks or in dusty areas should be included in the medical surveillance program.

 

•

 This program includes regular lung function tests, and (arguably) periodic full chest X-rays (the medical practitioner in charge of the program will decide on this).

 

•

 WIETA recommends that members who contract occupational health services to conduct medical screening of any kind should ask for a written protocol from the service provider, which should include the following details of the programme:

 

 
- who will be included in the program (informed by the risk assessment)
- exactly what tests will be conducted on workers, and what technical standards or internationally accepted protocols will be adhered to
- how often, and exactly when, workers must go for the tests
- how, and by whom test samples will be taken
- informed consent arrangements for workers
- what the tests are measuring, how this relates to the exposure of workers to substances in the workplace, and to health outcomes
- how the results of tests are to be kept and used (ethics, confidentiality)
- what will be reported to management
- what will be reported to the workers
- what must be done if any result is abnormal (confirmation testing, follow up monitoring, removal from exposure, authorisation for resumption of exposure etc)
- whether and if so what group anonymous reports will be given to the health and safety structures at the farm, and how frequently
- methods of testing samples used, and technical standards adhered to in testing, and in determining normal ranges
- arrangements for storing data from results

c)

Control the risk

 

•

 Reduce the air concentrations of dust in the workplace by:

 

 
- Limiting the amount of Earth used in the process
- Limiting the time period during which workers are exposed (so that their 8-hour average exposure is below the recommended limit)
- Substitute another (safer) substance
- Substitute an entirely different technology – NOTE: some cellars are using cross flow filtration which is not dusty and does not involve a hazardous chemical substance
- Engineering controls such as (listed from the hazchem regulations):
 
* process separation, automation, or enclosure 
* local extraction ventilation over processes, equipment and tools used in the filtration process with Earth (note requirement not to exhaust hazardous chemical substances into general environment in contravention of environmental control legislation)
* use wet methods
* separate workplaces for different processes
* introducing work procedures with written instructions on :
  ~ handling, use and disposal of the Earth
~ use of ventilation, installations, and equipment
~ cleaning work areas and machinery
~ identifying corrective actions

 

•

 Establish respirator zones in the workplace where air concentrations of Earth are above the limit, as established in the risk assessment
  • Mark off the zones with signs

 

•

 Require everyone who enters the zone to wear respirators (note: the correct respirator is very important and can be obtained from any reputable supplier of personal protective equipment – standards for masks are laid down by SABS)

Asbestos

The WIETA audit report form had an error because it said that members have to inform the Department of Labour about any asbestos they have on the premises. This is incorrect, and is not required by the Asbestos Regulations of OHSA either. These regulations state only that the employer must keep an updated written inventory of all asbestos on the premises (including any in employee housing), and inform the Department of Labour if any “asbestos work” is performed (i.e. work that can liberate tiny asbestos fibres into the air). There are also stringent requirements in the regulations for conducting this kind of work safely. In this regard, we have seen cases at cellars or on farms where asbestos roofing in worker housing is cleaned by high pressure water-jet on a regular basis. This can be dangerous because it takes off a whole layer of pulped asbestos fibre, which then collects in gutters and drains and on surrounding ground. When it dries, it becomes a dust hazard in and around the houses. It is better to either remove the asbestos altogether and replace it with another roofing material (this would also be “asbestos work”) or to seal the asbestos with good quality paint regularly.


WIETA project to ease implementation of health and safety standards

The Department of Agriculture has agreed to fund a WIETA project aimed at identifying a definitive standard in dealing with occupational health and safety at the workplace (taking into account SA legislation and other international health and safety standards that  producers and growers are committed to, such as Eurepgap and ISO); to develop the WIETA standard in this regard (together with good practice recommendations in addressing occupational health and safety issues identified) in consultation with key stakeholders in the industry; to develop popular materials for workers and management which would assist them implementing good health and safety management systems; and to incorporate these into WIETA training on the code.

This project will commence in 2006. At the time of writing (December 14, 2005) WIETA has received a number of applications from interested parties tendering for the work, which we are processing. We intend to establish a reference group comprising different stakeholders and, in particular, those specialising in health and safety in the sector, to assist with the implementation of this project. Please could you pass this information on to your health and safety committees, and if there is anyone interested in participating more actively in this process, can they please contact Pete on (021) 447-5660 or pete@wieta.org.za. we would be delighted to have them on the team.

Recommendations arising out of the initial research on this project will be discussed with members at a WIETA health and safety workshop in February 2006, aimed especially at the health and safety managers and health and safety representatives at WIETA worksites. We will keep you posted on the time and date for this workshop.


Training materials for workers and management on the code

We are still awaiting the outcome of our application to SAWIT to fund a WIETA training and materials development programme, but in the meantime have managed to secure funding from Novib which will allow us to develop participatory training materials for both management and worker representatives on the code. This project will also commence in 2006, and we hope to have these materials developed and to be able to offer training on the code before August 2006.


WIETA representatives meet with FLO-Cert representatives to discuss co-operation

WIETA Board Chairman, Jaco v.d. Merwe, and WIETA audit co-ordinator, Pete Lewis, met with Rudiger Meyer (FLO-Cert Director), Ose Nielsen (Producer Certification Manager Africa) and Pieter Cowan-Louw (Quality Manager) on 1st December 2005, for a discussion about possible co-operation between the two organizations. The discussion was very positive, and a memorandum of understanding between WIETA and FLO-Cert is currently being drafted and discussed in both orgnisations, with a view to signing it early in 2006.

The purpose of the understanding is :

a)

 to investigate the possibility of subcontracting FLO-Cert inspection functions to WIETA;
b) to work towards mutual recognition of codes and standards;

c)

 to explore synergies in training programmes for inspectors.

The WIETA stakeholders will approach this discussion with energy to ensure that our members and employees in SA agriculture will benefit to the maximum degree.


WIETA AGM decides to extend operations beyond the wine industry to agriculture as a whole

At the AGM on October 27th 2005, WIETA as an organisation took the decision to extend full membership rights and obligations to all primary and secondary enterprises in agriculture as a whole. This is a result of the various requests WIETA has had to audit cut flower operations, as well as a request to audit the supply chains of Fruitways and Cape Span Tesco group.

This means that in 2006 it is possible that we could be working with over 100 new members in these sectors, as well as new wine sector operations. This is a very exciting development, and WIETA heartily welcomes these new members, and looks forward to greatly extending the reach of ethical labour standards and trading both to new sectors and new parts of the country.

We have adapted all our audit forms to accommodate the new situation (all the forms are downloadable from this website), and we are ready!


Raasblaarstories : Order Form

We are able to supply each member with up to 20 free copies of Raasblaarstories / Amabali ase Raasblaar – our photocomic story for workers which explains WIETA auditing and the Code. Should you want more copies, you are welcome to purchase these from us, at R10 per copy. Please try to ensure that a few copies of the photostory are kept at the worksite, so that they are accessible to new workers and temporary employees as well.

Please complete and return the order form via fax number to (021) 447-5662 or e-mail to anthea@wieta.org.za 


Download the Raasblaarstories order form HERE.


   Read archived news items

 



 

 
 
 
 
 


Copyright 2004  |  WIETA |  All Rights reserved.