CHINGOLA, 23 July 2016, Konkola Copper Mines Plc (KCM) today congratulated its First Aid team for winning the 11th Chamber of Mines of Zambia Inter-mine First Aid Competition involving 13 mining and energy companies.

The First Aid Competition is an annual event held to gauge the preparedness of industry players in dealing with emergencies on mine sites and externally. KCM and the other mines also take First Aid as a top priority for safety in the industry.

In the annual First Aid Competition, the mines are allowed to field several teams from operating units and the Konkola Mine Geology team amassed 84.8% to emerge victorious from the 21 teams that participated in the 2016 competition held at Chambishi Copper Smelter. Lubambe Mine came second with 83.3%.

To be selected as the best team, KCM First Aiders excelled in several aspects of First Aid such as the team’s promptness in reacting to emergencies and assessing degrees of urgency to injuries or illnesses.

Commenting on the outcome of the competition KCM Chief Executive Officer Steven Din said, “The result is a testimony of KCM’s commitment to ensuring the health and safety of our workforce remains our first priority.”

“KCM is focused on delivering the best in class for the first line treatment of psychological trauma or injury to people within and outside our operations in the event of unforeseen incidents,” Mr Din said.

Mr Din said KCM would continue to participate in the annual First Aid competitions to enable its employees to benchmark with industry peers and to also share their knowledge and skills.

KCM Occupational Health Manager Dr Kumwala Mwiya says the company trains over 1,000 employees in First Aid every year. The training is intended to equip the workforce with knowledge and skills to respond to injuries and other medical situations.

Dr Mwiya says First Aid assistance during the first few minutes of an incident can reduce the impact of injuries and medical complications.

He added that the company’s objective is to ensure every KCM employee has some knowledge and skills about First Aid to prepare the employees to respond to internal and external situations requiring First Aid interventions.