South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), Sri Lanka’s first Public Private Partnership Container Terminal and BOI flagship project emerged the winner in the Transport and Logistics large scale category at the National Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Awards 2022 held on the 21st of November 2023 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Safety is at the epicentre of SAGT’s business operations. The safety and wellbeing of all employees, contractors, visitors and other stakeholders are a key organisational priority with no compromise at any cost. Health and Safety is embedded across the organization as a core value and workplace safety encompasses the daily and long term wellbeing of all employees and other stakeholders. The Company’s comprehensive safety policies and practices are benchmarked to international best practices at container terminals around the globe that in all instances exceed local statutory requirements.
SAGT strives for zero accidents in the workplace by fostering a culture attuned to maintaining the highest safety standards. The Company’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Committee works in collaboration with all stakeholders to reduce work-related injuries, work-related illness, incidents and accidents and environmentally unsound practices.
The company places an emphasis on training and development of employees which is seen as key to maintaining a safety centric workplace. Recurrent training in the form of daily tool-box meetings, competency and skills refresher courses and formal sessions through an annual calendar formulated following evaluation of the training needs of each employee and third party contractors working within the terminal premises is planned and implemented on a structured, on-going basis. Beyond this, the Company also conducts awareness sessions for employees and contractors using internal and external resource persons on a variety of topics including mental and physical wellbeing.
The Company continues to invest in infrastructure and equipment to enable a safe working environment. SAGT was the first and to date remains the only terminal at the Port of Colombo to invest in safety cages for lashing operations. The Company also introduced a hazardous cargo bay to properly manage leaking hazardous cargo in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner.
Commenting on the award, SAGT’s Senior Manager – Health, Safety and Environment Sidantha Nanayakkara stated “The number one priority in our day-to-day operations is to ensure the safety of all employees, contractors and visitors to the terminal. For this reason, our safety standards and practices are uncompromising and non-negotiable. Whilst SAGT will continue to seek every available opportunity to improve further, the Company remains committed to upholding the highest standards of workplace safety to continue to ensure the wellbeing of all stakeholders. We are deeply honoured to receive this award as recognition of the good safety practices embodied by Team SAGT and we thank the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health for their continuing efforts and commitment to improve workplace safety and health across all businesses and industries in Sri Lanka”.