Health and safety

The health and safety of our workforce is a critical component of our culture. We believe that every employee should go home safe and healthy every day and we are committed to keeping health and safety as a value that drives our overall performance.

We have a comprehensive health, safety and risk management system for our underground and surface mining operations. We also place a strong emphasis on the training, competence, health and wellness of our employees. As part of this, we provide opportunities for learning, as well as reinforcing and monitoring the application of learned skills and knowledge on the job.

We have made a significant investment in procedures and controls, and have implemented various health and safety training initiatives as a means of giving workers the skills and knowledge they need to perform their tasks in a safe and reliable way. We also require all contractors to provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment, and ask that they meet, as a minimum, our health and safety standards.

+ Expand all - Hide all

One million safe hours

We recognise that our financial and operating achievements must be judged in the context of our over-riding corporate goals: to ensure that everyone goes home safe and healthy every day and that we make a positive contribution to the areas where we operate.

In 2010 we attained an important milestone. Each of our four mines achieved one million working hours without a lost-time injury. Additionally, there were zero lost-time injuries at any mine in the whole of the final quarter. This is highly encouraging, but we are conscious that we must continue to maintain our focus on achieving constant improvement.

A premium on safety

We invest heavily in the training, competence, health and wellness of our employees. As part of this, we provide opportunities for learning, as well as reinforcing and monitoring the application of learned skills and knowledge on the job.

Activities include:

  • the Drive First initiative, which is focused on addressing the potential dangers caused by poor driving
  • a two-day ‘Courageous Safety Leadership’ course for supervisors, to encourage identifying risks and voicing concerns
  • risk-management tools, focusing on new hazards that arise through change.

Our Global Health Programme

We monitor our compliance with local, national and international legislation, as well as our own health standards. We have introduced our Global Health Programme to progress health systems and controls through an approach that advocates anticipating, identifying, evaluating, controlling and monitoring health hazards at work. As part of this programme we have:

  • appointed an Occupational Health Manager to accelerate the programme
  • implemented activities including health surveillance, training and competence, medical care and management, record-keeping and reporting, health promotion, employee assistance programmes, mine life cycle planning and community health
  • put in place HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria programmes
  • established voluntary testing and counselling, and offer care and treatment for HIV-positive employees.

Top of page