INSIDER - SEP 2023

SEPTEMBER 2023

CEO VISITS Mount Edgecombe

Ushering in a New Era

Here’s to health –iHealth

CEO

My

CEO visits

Mount Edgecombe

By Sifiso Khoza

On Monday, 14th August 2023, Ravi Reddy visited the Mount Edgecombe offices. KZN staff members were informed via email on Friday, 11 August 2023, that the CEO will be coming to Mount Edgecombe.

About 130 staff members met the CEO during his visit, from 10h30 until 11h30. Not only was Ravi happy to see the great turnout, he was delighted to see some of the staff members who worked with him in Pinetown when he started his SANBS journey.

To say the staff members were happy is an understatement. There was happiness and excitement all over the place. The mood was a festive one.

Ravi chatted with as many people as possible, including Gerald Zulu and Petros Zondo, who worked with Ravi and his father in Pinetown many years ago. He thanked the two gentlemen for their dedication to SANBS over the 21 years and 27 years, respectively, as they will soon be retiring. Thereafter, he gave a short speech about the previous year’s financial performance and thanked the staff for their hard work and assistance with the recovery after Covid-19.

This visit made employees feel valued and seen, undoubtedly boosting staff morale. Employees who feel appreciated tend to have better job satisfaction which increases morale, reduces stress levels, and helps create a culture of trust within the organisation.

Bethlehem’s record Collection on World Blood Donor Day

By Mompati Sebogo

After coming out of a trying period in the Bethlehem branch, resulting in high sta turnover, a team-building session at Maluti Hoogland School took place in May to help to cultivate a spirit of unity, nurture a sense of belonging and, most importantly, develop a common purpose based on our organisation’s mission, being trusted to save lives.

The team-building activities were aimed at building trust and a sense of camaraderie. New and old employees mingled freely, and all had a great time.

The energised team spirit resulted in a new collection record

My colleague came

By Nomvula Mashaba

Sifiso Gumede found himself in the right place at the right time. If you think about it, that’s how superheroes work. Nomvula Mashala shares her story about how Sifiso came to her rescue.

“I do intense hiking and camping as my recreational sport and fitness regime. I started participating in this sport in 2019 after going on a three-year journey to lose weight after having my daughter. I weighed 83kgs and went down to 62kgs by running, skipping and altering my diet completely.

“I do intense hiking and camping as my recreational sport and fitness regime. I started participating in this sport in 2019 after going on a three-year journey to lose weight after having my daughter. I weighed 83kgs and went down to 62kgs by running, skipping and altering my diet completely”

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, this kept me going, and it became a lifestyle.

I’ve completed major and minor trails in the country, including Hennops, Restig, Wonderboom, Fanie Botha in the Sabie region, Leolo Mountains and Wolkberg in the beautiful mountains of Limpopo Tzaneen.

In August 2021, I was preparing for the snow season hike in the Drakensberg and suddenly fell ill. My skin broke, and I started having di culties during my exercise sessions. At that time, I was becoming consistent with my blood donations, and one morning, I woke up with a swollen face and legs. I went to the doctor, who ran tests and found that my haemoglobin and FEP stores were meagre and needed to be transfused immediately.

The Friday night that I was supposed to be travelling to KZN for my hike became the night when I received the gift of blood donated by my colleague, who sat willingly to give me his blood, “ Sifiso Gumede, at Egoli central Mobile Team ”. I could never thank him enough for his selflessness and this act of kindness towards me and others as he continuously gave blood.

I hope this story encourages someone and changes how they look at life.

THE WORLD IS STILL A POSITIVE PLACE TO LIVE IN!

#YOURBLOODSAVESLIFE

You are celebrated and recognised, Sifiso, for being trusted to save lives!

Human Centred collections

Milestone Donors

Jill Morley celebrated her 208th donation this year. To mark the occasion, she rang the ceremonial bell in celebration. Congratulations to Jill. Her commitment has saved approximately 642 lives. That’s definitely something to be proud of!

The focus on recyclable waste being sent to landfills has yet to yield positive results. On average, 55% of all recyclable waste collected was sent to landfill over the past 12 months. SANBS, we can do better!

SANBS generated 3 716 tons of carbon in the first quarter, mainly from electricity usage (2029 tons) and mileage travelled by couriers and sta (1793 tons). This was partially o set by the savings from generating solar power at Mt Edgecombe (112 tons).

We’re using borehole water at CK, Mt Edgecombe and PE for business continuity, yielding 2 306kl in the first quarter. Plans are in place to install solar and boreholes at some of the more significant SANBS sites.

in P r o cess e s A d mi n istr a ti ve

Excellence Rigor

O2C Optimisation Project

The Order-to-Collect (O2C) Optimisation project is a new initiative at SANBS. The O2C cycle starts with SANBS receiving orders for blood and blood products and spans over issuing the order, billing for the order, submission of claims and cash collections.

The project aims to improve the billing challenges, case sheet management and the completeness and accuracy of information obtained.

The implementation of this project is essential to ensure e ciency, reliability and improved customer satisfaction while addressing the four highest strategic risks, which have been identified as:

• Ine ective and ine cient Order-to-Collect process

• Inability to remain financially sustainable

• Impact of weak internal controls on compliance and financial assurance.

• Loss of public/stakeholder confidence

Engagement sessions regarding the project have been conducted in various forums, including Change agent networks.

The departments impacted by this project are Processing & Issuing: Blood Bank, Finance: Accounts Receivable and Supply Chain and Logistics. Users have been trained, with only a few more that are still to be trained.

The O2C project team applauds the users for their e orts and dedication to the project’s success.

Ethics Management makes significant strides

By Dumisani Rorwana | Ethics Consultant

According to Principle 2 of the KING IV Report on Corporate Governance, it is the responsibility of the Board to establish an ethical culture. One recognised method in which the Board does that is by demonstrating that requisite leadership commitment. Leadership commitment is the first and critical ingredient in creating a culture of ethics in any organisation. SANBS leadership has shown a firm commitment to cultivating a culture of ethics within SANBS. SANBS leadership has demonstrated that commitment by signing an “Ethics Pledge”, which is a commitment to uphold the highest ethical principles and practices. In addition to this, SANBS leadership has adopted “Values “(Thread Values”) and a Code of Ethics, which lay down ethical standards all employees are expected to embrace in their interaction with its stakeholders.

ETHICS MANAGEMENT MAKES SIGNIFICANT STRIDES SANBS Ethics and Culture Programme

SANBS leadership recognises that commitment to ethics is essential in creating and sustaining an ethical culture; however, it needs to be more fool proof and a guarantor of ethical conduct by all. SANBS leadership knows that non-managerial employees must be empowered to create an ethical culture, ethics messages should be aligned, and leadership’s commitment should cascade across all job levels. To this end, SANBS leadership is embarking on an awareness campaign to “take the Code of Ethics to the people” by a ording the Code of Ethics a prominent role in ethics management initiatives such as ethics awareness campaigns, employee induction programmes, ethics training and other employee engagement activities.

Another e ort by leadership to empower sta at all levels and further enhance ethics awareness at all levels was through the revival of the Ethics Ambassador Programme, which is, in e ect, the decentralisation of ethics management. The programme aims to connect all SANBS sta at all job levels to its ethics programmes to raise ethics awareness to build a positive ethical culture.

The journey to achieving a positive and aligned ethical culture is long, riddled with potholes, and comprises some building blocks that take time and an unwavering commitment to achieving. I do not doubt that SANBS has reached two fundamental building blocks to an improved ethics culture, i.e., “Demonstrable Leadership Commitment and Ethics Awareness”. However, there are other building blocks to reach the desired state of ethics and ethics culture within SANBS, but I do not doubt the commitment of leadership and sta in achieving this; as they say, “Rome was not built in a day”.

H EA R T S & MI ND S

Celebrating Long-serving employees

Currently working as a Plasma Manager, Sipho has been with the company since November 1990. He started out as a Technician at Baragwaneth Hospital Blood Bank almost 33 years ago. He subsequently worked his way up the ladder and has taken on roles that include Head: Component Department, Head of Plasma and finally, Plasma Manager.

“What kept me so long with the company, is the culture, opportunities to grow and support from Senior Management. During my career path, I have been empowered. I was also awarded opportunity to travel to Amsterdam and the UK to learn and share best practices, and to get exposure to how international blood transfusion services operate. What makes me love working for the organisation is being part of a winning team that processes blood to save people’s lives. The most important thing for me, is to save lives.”

- Sipho Mabuye

Meet Sipho…

Sipho Mabuye | Plasma Manager

Safety and Environment update

What is a near-miss?

It is an unplanned event that can potentially result in injury, illness or damage – but fortunately, it did not.

Why should we report it if it did not result in anything?

To provide an early warning that something needs attention. It allows SANBS to identify the current risks and take steps to prevent future accidents.

Example of a near miss? Slips, trips, and falls without injury.

"Always remember that a near miss reported today, is the accident not likely to happen tomorrow”.

3 Major: 1 employee booked o -sick for more than 14 days; 1 road accident Fatality and 1 damage to the fire line resulting in flooding and loss of some warehouse stock).

41 Minor: 13 were Injury on Duty incidents with 3 first aid injuries; 8 were 1-13 lost work days and 2 needle stick injuries.

22 incidents were related to property damage, with 17 from vehicle incidents, 1 environmental related and 5 security-related incidents.

Unsafe Acts (Human behaviour) were high – 37 compared to hazardous conditions (Employer responsibility), 32, with property damage rating the most elevated.

These are the incidents that occurred in the first quarter:

Risk Management update

In the first quarter of this financial year, 30 sites were assessed on a 2-year rotational basis. Non-compliance was identified in the sites, mainly for poor lighting and hazardous biological agent (HBA) exposure. Improvement has been noted in the risks identified in the previous assessments.

There were 72 Safety & Environment Inspections conducted at SANBS sites. Identified trends were incorrect segregation of HCRW, overfilled waste containers resulting in spillage, LXP competency assessments not done and medical certificates not found. These non-compliances are being addressed with the relevant sites.

Do you know the control hierarchy used to assess the risks?

I n t roduc t ion t o Research Me t hodolog y

All decisions relating to business (from responding to customer ’s evolving needs and preferences to conducting culture regulations and policies) are best made on the basis of ethical and sound research methodology role in assisting to identify the problem, obtain the right data, outline objectives and draw sound conclusions. If you would like to master the ability to turn data into valuable information, interpreting it accurately and making the correct inferences, and you would like to learn how to conduct, analyse and present research then this course is for you. Individuals who are looking to conduct research for reporting purposes (integrated, annual, sustainability or showcase reports), tertiary students ’s Degree, would be well suited to this course.

Course Facts

Course delivery

Online, digitised short course

B-BBEE

B recognition under Skills Development element of B-BBEE scorecard

Course duration

Nine weeks

Learner Journey Management

The Wits DigitalCampus team provide learning support throughout the course

Notional learning hours

5-7 learning hours per week, anytime, anywhere

Accreditation

University of the Witwatersrand

Target market Assessment Course outcomes

Individuals who are conducting research in the workplace.

Tertiary students, in preparation for post-graduate studies.

a Master ’s Degree.

Assessment and grades are calculated as follows:

5% – Participation in Discussion Activity forums

35% – Module assessment results

60% – Online examination result

Provide participants with an overview of the fundamentals of research methodology

Provide participants with the skills to be able to engage critically with research. Equip participants with the knowledge and skills to conduct research and apply the principles of research to the workplace or for study purposes.

that course content has been completed and learners have been assessed for competence against the learning outcomes set.

Wits Digital Campus Graduate Stories

Q: What influenced your decision to further your studies?

A: To not just know but understand my work environment as well. The knowledge I have gained through Health and Safety Representative Training not only applies to my work area, but in my everyday life.

Q: How do you think the course a ected how you do your work now?

A: Now I can be more e cient in my work as there is more knowledge that I have acquired and I have new experience too.

Q: What would your advice be to those looking to further their studies through L&D programmes?

A: It was an awesome journey. The lecturer and fellow students are supportive and that makes this a worthwhile journey. It would be a shame to miss such an opportunity to learn.

Q: What plans do you have for your newly acquired skills, to grow in your career?

A: To share the knowledge I have gained and to make my environment a better and safe space, especially when the opportunity avails itself to be the best.

Norman Mokonyama

First Line Processing Technician

Minimise

Smart Fridge (Bophelo)

Bophelo is an important technological innovation that contributes to our iHealth strategy and the continual improvement of accessibility and reach. Among other things, the Smart Fridge will help us to:

• Decrease the risk of transfusing unmatched emergency units to patients and increasing patient safety.

• Increase traceability of units.

• Maintain blood products quality and integrity through proper handling and storage.

• Decrease blood wastage.

• Improved management and use of group O blood.

As a leader in South Africa’s healthcare system, we are excited about responding with agility to meet the needs of all patients in need of blood products while still providing a quality, cost-effective and world-class service.

Congratulations to our winners!

We proudly announce that the smart fridge has been renamed Bophelo! Bophelo is a Sesotho name, meaning life. This truly South African name expresses everything that we at SANBS stand for. Congratulations to Amanda Xaba, Lesego Mntambo, Nonyamezelo Nsibande and Vincent Ngomane, our smart fridge naming competition winners.

Congratulations to Simphiwe Hlongwane, our World Blood Donor Day competition winner. She won a trendy Bluetooth Speaker for participating in the World Blood Donor Day competition.

Shout out to Alison Visagie for completing the 2023 Midmar Mile, the world's largest open-water swim, in 54 minutes and 23 seconds!

WELLNESS WALL OF FAME

Shout out to Thomas Moerane for exceeding 160 extra miles for SANBS with your incredible blood donation achievements.

Shout out to Janine Whittal for your 4th Comrades Marathon run and receiving your Special Robert Mtshali Medal.

Shout out to Lungile Zama for participating in the Women’s Day Soccer match in Pinetown with the KZN Soccer team and representing women that day.

Alison Visagie

Thomas Moerane

Janine Whittal

Lungile Zama

@sanbs @thesanbs @O cialSanbs

South African National Blood Service @thesanbs @thesanbs