AST brings health, safety up to standard through its solutions

AST Solutions, a division of the AST Group, has brought together a total business solutions approach, which allows organisations to comply with the necessary health and safety regulations as stated in governance guidelines like King II, as well as international guidelines such as the Turnbull Guidelines and Dow Sustainability Indexes.

This is made possible through AST`s Integrated Safety, Health, Environment, Risk and Quality (SHERQ) systems, which combine industry-specific know-how and skills with an in-depth understanding of technology. This allows AST to implement its approach from the boardroom to operations level.

AST leverages its SHERQ industry knowledge and its insight into the challenges that clients face, to provide them with a competitive-edge. The solutions are based on world-class SHERQ business and system best practices and reflect cost leadership and focused differentiation.

"Organisations that do not have effective SHERQ management systems are costing South African industry millions each year," explains Leon Jordaan of AST Solutions. "Companies need the correct software to identify risks, evaluate their impact and put the necessary mechanisms in place to prevent loss, as far as is reasonably or humanly possible. This pertains to the domains of hygiene, medicine, safety, environment and public health

"AST can assist in identifying risks and in ensuring that they are managed responsibly and effectively by means of a SHERQ management solution that not only complies with statutory requirements, but is also in line with international best practices," adds Jordaan. "Our experience has shown that once a comprehensive, integrated risk management system is adopted that effectively incorporates hygiene, medicine, safety and environment principles, business becomes more productive and profitable in the long-term."

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Technology is moving away from the scenario of islands of software that exist throughout an organisation; instead, a seamless environment in which all enterprise systems (Relationship, Enterprise, Automation and Control and SHERQ) are completely integrated is becoming the norm. AST Marknet`s experience of and insight into systems integration regarding SHERQ is of particular relevance in this.

SHERQ systems are generally viewed as part of the human resources domain, although they are crucial to the operations of a company. Traditionally there is no - or very little - communication or integration between the various disciplines of safety, health, environment, risk and quality. This lack of integration has resulted in "islands of technology and disciplines", while the objectives of the various disciplines normally overlap significantly. Bridging this communication and integration gap - by effectively integrating SHERQ with other IT systems - improves the dynamic and global optimisation of a business with all the attendant benefits.

AST has developed a SHERQ application, called Palladium, which is suitable for various market sectors, eg mining, minerals, metals, manufacturing, government, heath, etc. The software consists of various fully integrated modules and is customisable to suit the requirements of any client in any business sector.