“We have retooled them for the job”- Dr Mampane
Government has this week made it compulsory for businesses and organisations with 50 or more employees to engage Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Officers as a measure to curb the possible spread of Covid-19.
This means SHE Officers have instantly become the most sought after professionals in the country as the economy gradually opens following a period of lockdown.
Having produced hundreds of graduates in this field, Boitekanelo College President, Tiro Mampane has urged organizations to engage Boitekanelo College graduates.
“We have been producing graduates in this field for a period of over six years now in both diploma and degree certificates,” said Dr Mampani.
While sectors such as mining and other industries locally have been employing SHE officers for many years, it has however been a relatively low practiced culture in many organizations.
Now, with Covid-19, the government has announced that organizations should engage these professionals who would among other duties carry out risk assessments and reconfigure the workplace to suit the current protocols.
“As a country, we have done well so far in containing the spread of the virus and it would therefore be unfortunate to have all that reversed,” said Mampani.
Although many of Boitekanelo College graduates in the safety, health and environment field were absorbed by mines and other industries, the college still had graduates that ended up unemployment as their demand was not high in the past.
As some could have spent some time not working, Mampani revealed that the college has developed a refresher programme to refresh and retool them in order to make them ready for the workplace.
Mampani further revealed that since government made an announcement to make SHE officers mandatory for businesses, the school has been inundated with calls from organisations requesting for profiles of graduates.