Training for Mining and Construction Employers

What you have to be able to prove

An SHEQ or training manager is not buying courses. They are buying the ability to answer an auditor, a client or an inspector on the day it is asked. In practice that means three things:

• That the people doing the work are competent to do it. Operator certificates are machine-specific, so a fleet with six machine classes needs six sets of tickets, not one.
• That the appointments the law requires are filled. Under the General Safety Regulations a workplace with more than five employees needs a first aid box, and one with more than ten needs a certified first aider for every group of up to 50 — 100 in shops and offices. The Environmental Regulations for Workplaces require suitable fire-fighting equipment, and sections 8 and 13 of the OHS Act require employers to give employees the instruction and training they need to work safely, which includes using that equipment.
• That you can produce the certificate. Not a photocopy in a file, but a record you can check on the day.

What Fundza does for employers

• On-site training anywhere in South Africa. We train at your premises, on your machines. Groups have been trained as far as Cape Town, for mines, construction companies and municipalities.
• Group bookings. Quoted per booking from the published course fees, which include VAT.
• Certificate verification. A company account on the Fundza portal shows which of your staff are registered and lets you view their certificates and licences, with step-by-step guides in the help centre.

The tickets a site team needs

Most employers buy in this order, because each stage unlocks the next.

1. Safety appointments first. First aid (from R957) and fire fighting (from R1 034) are the two almost every workplace has to fill, whatever the industry. A SHE representative (R1 100) is elected and trained alongside them.
2. Anything above ground level. Working at Heights Training (R1 628) before anyone goes on a scaffold, roof or raised platform.
3. Machine tickets, per machine class. Earth moving machinery (R5 630 to R11 000) for excavators, dozers, graders, loaders and dump trucks. Lifting machinery (from R1 628) for cranes, forklifts and work platforms.
4. Lifting and rigging alongside the operator. A lift needs both a certified operator and a certified slinger or banksman. Certifying one without the other leaves the gap an auditor will find.
5. Trades, where the work calls for them. Construction trades for concrete and access work; skills programmes for people entering electrical, welding or plumbing work.

The Safety Combo bundles the site safety certificates into one 10-day booking at R6 600, with a separate certificate for each course. It suits a new intake who hold none of them yet.

How a team booking works

1. Send us the list: how many people, which courses or which machines, and where they are based.
2. We come back with dates and a quotation. Group size and travel are worked out per booking.
3. Training runs on your site or at our Mokopane centre, with the same assessment either way.
4. Certificates are issued and loaded to the portal, where your team can download them and you can verify them.

Employer questions