With experience gained at Eskom, Vanida’s primary role is to provide the assurance that the core elements of the three pillars of sustainability – social, environmental and economic – are integrated into every facet of the Group’s business and take into account international and local norms and standards.
The HSEC system will be supported by a strategic sustainability framework with clear statements of intent by the Group’s leadership and a three-tiered system of reporting and monitoring. All operations will be required to align their strategies with the broad strategic framework. However, due to their diverse nature, individual entities will customise and further entrench their HSEC programmes based on their specific risk profiles.

The three-tiered approach, which is linked to the governance aspects of sustainability, comprises:

Vanida reports to a HSEC committee of the Murray & Roberts Holdings board which, under the chairmanship off Michael McMahon, regularly monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) as a fundamental assurance measure. These KPIs include fatality, injury rates, environmental incident rates, energy efficiency levels, stakeholder interaction, penalties from clients and legal contraventions resulting in legal directives or sanctions from the state.

“An important message we are communicating across the Group is that the concept of sustainability is not a separate portfolio but is encompassed in every aspect of our business. Sustainability addresses both risk and opportunity and, with the full commitment of management, a triple bottom line approach can manifest itself in significant improvements in financial results,” says Vanida.