Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini Railways (ESR) has officially launched the Annual Railway Safety Week from October 9 – 13, 2023 under the theme ‘Safety Begins with your Attitude, Always Be Careful’. The commemorative week’s beginning was marked by the Breakfast Media and stakeholder launch held at Royal Villas on Monday.
ERS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nixon Dlamini said the Railway Safety Week was an annual event commemorated in October by all members of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA), a SADC organ for advancing development, efficiency, and safety in railway operations.
Dlamini mentioned that the commemoration seeks member operators to collaborate with all key stakeholders under a common mutually agreed theme to enhance awareness of railway safety.
The CEO stated that at the 1st SARA Board of Directors Meeting of 2019, held on 19th June in Harare, Zimbabwe, it was resolved and agreed that the member operations shall commemorate railway safety for a week in October every year.
“The commemoration seeks member operators to collaborate with all key stakeholders under a mutually agreed theme to enhance awareness on railway safety,” he said.
He mentioned that the Board resolution for SARA to annually commemorate the Railway Safety Week was made as a means of enhancing awareness campaigns on safety. He said, more importantly, it was also meant to ensure joint regional advocacy for railway safety practices and conformity to the agreed SADC or SARA Railway Safety Standards.
“The commemoration further seeks to promote an integrated awareness towards railway safety and some of the target stakeholders include government ministries, law enforcement, community leadership structures, compliance or regulatory organizations, business partners, and other stakeholders working closely with railways operations,” he said.
He also stated that the theme for this year takes railway safety back to basics, where every individual in society needs to display an attitude and behaviour that indicates their value of personal safety and those of others.
The CEO stated that more than 50 per cent of railway incidents were influenced by attitudes and perceptions, for instance, a motor vehicle driver may rush to cross a level crossing first before the train, even though they can see the approaching train.
“Such attitudes do not only influence personal behaviour towards safety but significantly contribute to an unsafe community and societal safety culture towards railway operations,” he said. He explained that this year’s theme therefore was a call for all members of society to model attitudes that would shape the new railway safety culture. Dlamini said the activities that had been planned as part of the commemoration this week were targeting influencing human behaviour through attitude change.
Leaders from five African countries who were present at the official opening of the Transform Africa Summit 2023.
“School awareness on railways safety will be conducted in the course of the commemoration as a means to proactively create a positive safety attitude to our learners on Railway Safety,” he said. The CEO added that community campaigns and roadshows would be undertaken in strategic areas to target community and societal groups heavily impacted by railway safety issues.
He stated that they would also be engaging with community leadership structures in a bid to gain ownership from communities in ensuring that ESR operations within their space are conducted in a manner that significantly reduces human health occurrences and loss of assets.
“The expected outcomes and benefits of commemorating the Railway Safety Week include increased awareness of the efforts being made and railway services being rendered, enhanced support towards adherence to the SADC SARA Railway Safety Standards, and effectively promoted the railway sector and its importance in learning institutions to name a few,” he said.
ESR Board Chairperson Nonhlanhla Shongwe said the ESR Board of Directors considered the safety of railway operations an integral part of the business.
“From employee safety to the community and national safety, the Board supports ESR in promoting a sustainable railway safety culture that aims to minimize as practicably possible, incidents and occurrences that arise from Railway Operations,” he said.
Shongwe mentioned that the vision of Eswatini Railways was “To be a sustainable logistics partner of choice” and as the Board, they strongly believed that without Railway Safety, this vision cannot be achieved. She stated that it was for this reason therefore that the entire Board renders its full support towards railway safety initiatives, including this week-long commemoration.
“In the long term, the Board is happy to highlight that Railway Safety is part of the ESR Strategic Plan (2023 -2025) action items, where the organization aims to integrate technology into its operations as a means of early detection and prevention of railways incidents and occurrences,” she said.
The chairperson said these interventions alone would not be adequate, hence the need for all stakeholders to take action that would promote a positive attitude towards railway safety. “As the board, we would like to challenge ESR employees to model the attitudes and behaviours that will impact communities and society positively,” she said.
Shongwe added that from a public safety and community perspective, the Board continues to promote meaningful stakeholder engagement that identifies railway safety as a shared responsibility between ESR, community, and society at large.
“We believe that such collaborative efforts will play a major role in shaping the future of Railways not only on the safety aspect but in ensuring that railway operations continue to be the stimulating sector towards Eswatini’s economic growth and sustainability,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Public Works and Transport Principal Secretary Thulani Mkhaliphi said it was encouraging to note that the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) had taken a resolution to commemorate railway safety annually as a means of creating awareness to railways employees, motorists, general members of the public and other stakeholders about the importance of safe operations, safe interaction with the railway track and how they can join hands in strengthening the overall safety of the railways in the region.
Mkhaliphi stated that rail transportation was an essential part of the economy of the Kingdom of Eswatini and safety was paramount for all transportation modes. “Our government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our transportation system rail included,” he said.
The PS who was represented by Nhlanhla Motsa said the government had prioritised infrastructure development and had in recent years invested millions of Emalangeni towards the preparation for the construction of the Eswatini Rail Link Project. He stated that in the past 24 months, they had seen a safe and successful relocation program implementation.
“Eswatini Railways has demonstrated a safety culture through the implementation of the internationally recognized safety standard ISO 45001 and SANS 3000-1 (Railway Safety Management Standard) and this has been manifested by the improved rail safety record of the organization over the years,” he said.
The PS said it was encouraging to note that operationally there had not been a fatality among the employees of the organization since December 2015, a record that is not common in such a dangerous industry.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
