UPWAY Customer Service Champion Yolanda Bekeur chats about her role as an occupational health and safety officer at the University of Pretoria (UP).

What is your role in the Department of Facilities Management?

I have been the head of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) division at UP since 2017. We are a small team of six, and our staff members are trained in health and safety management, fire safety, radiation protection and occupational health. My daily tasks involve managing the OHS section. I engage with colleagues within the Department of Facilities Management and the wider UP community on occupational health and safety key tasks. This includes attending meetings related to health and safety, performing health and safety inspections, coordinating occupational hygiene surveys, organising training, monitoring incident investigations and providing advisory support. 

The OHS team provides professional support to the faculties and departments to coordinate the University’s compliance with the statutory prescriptions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993 and Regulations.

How did you come to perform this role? 

Occupational health and safety became a field of interest to me when I worked at UP as part of a legal compliance framework in the same OHS section. I worked in the public health sector as a diagnostic radiographer after I qualified in 1988, until the end of 2003. While working full-time and being a mother of two, I studied through distance learning in the fields of education, health management and safety management. This led to me being appointed in regulatory and management positions from 2004 onwards. I have been fortunate to be appointed in good job positions due to my focus on an upward career path, supported by further studies and being disciplined. 

Which UPWAY pillar do you identify with most and why? 

Impact. In my workspace and engagement with UP staff, students, visitors and contractor staff, I have to advocate legal compliance to ensure that the University is a healthy and safe workplace and student environment. 

What do you enjoy most about your job?  

Taking a morning walk and greeting the UP community with a smile and positive energy.  My focus is on creating a health and safety awareness culture that will assist the institution in meeting acceptable statutory compliance standards. The role of the chairpersons of the OHS committee, the occupational health and safety representatives and the first-aiders cannot be undervalued as they are a great support to the OHS section and the UP community.

What do you enjoy least about your job? 

Sometimes there is not enough hours in the day to address the planned work activities, due to many unplanned health and safety issues that require our immediate attention. We are sometimes concerned whether we had done enough or if more could have been done. 

Where do you draw inspiration from? 

Teamwork makes the dream work. We have to work together and use our collective experiences to coordinate statutory compliance at the University. We have to be united to be influential.

If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?  

I would like us to embed a health and safety advocacy platform with sufficient resources to create a behavioural-based safety culture at the University.

Which quote do you live by? 

“Be the best you can be in order to inspire, motivate and build a nation. Teach people to be kinder and to smile often, and seize the day.’

What do you do in your free time?

I am a trained mentor with the Girls for Girls (G4G) empowerment organisation. I am part of a team of women who train other women as mentors. The trained mentors then train mentees – young girls and women at high school and university as well as young professionals – on key skills such as building trust, courageous leadership, the art of communication and negotiation, public service and values, and ethics.