Miners install 3-metre TC cable anchors at Amandelbult No 2 Shaft
Safety is our core value and we are relentless in our pursuit of zero harm. We must provide a safe and supportive working environment for everyone who works with us.
As a result of our new safety culture, practices and leadership from all levels, we have achieved a step change in safety performance. In South Africa, where we employ 70,500 full-time employees and 21,000 contractors, fatalities have dropped from 32 in 2007 to 11 in 2010.
Our drive towards zero harm is based on three key safety principles:
- A zero mindset - we believe that all injuries and occupational illnesses are preventable
- Simple non-negotiable standards – standards and guidelines must be consistently applied across our operations
- No repeats – if an incident does occur, it is our responsibility to learn from it so we prevent the same incident from happening in the future
Safety strategy
Our safety strategy sets the direction for delivering improvements in safety performance and takes a risk-based and integrated approach involving the people, systems and process elements of managing safety. Over the next three-to-five years, our focus is on:
- Building personal and visible safety leadership and commitment at all levels
- Ensuring the foundations for managing safety are in place and being implemented effectively across all businesses
- Standardising the way we do things, from reporting and investigating incidents to managing risks
- Developing a culture in which we learn, share and continuously improve
- Deepening and strengthening functional capability and critical skills
Occupational health
The health and wellbeing of our employees has a direct bearing on their ability to perform safely and productively in the workplace. Our vision is that no employee is harmed by working at our operations, and that the health of those who work for us is improved.
We undertake risk-based medical examinations and provide access to a range of workplace health programmes designed to both protect and improve the health of our employees.
We recently launched the Occupational Health Way, a set of management system standards based on OHSAS 18000, which highlight specific issues relating to the management of health risks.
One way we safeguard health is through good engineering practice to reduce noise, dust and vibration, thereby preventing exposure at source. Overall fitness for work is a top priority and the highly qualified medical professionals at our health centres conduct examinations on employees and contractors to ensure their fitness to work safely. They are provided with state-of-the-art equipment to monitor the effects of any exposure to health hazards in the workplace.
Health in the community
The Anglo American Chairman’s Fund supports organisations with a record of success in community care and those that implement new and appropriate models of primary healthcare. Initiatives in the health sector include primary healthcare programmes, the training of community care workers and health awareness, training and support.
Thermal Coal, Virgin Unite and the United States Government partnered to establish the Bhubezi Community Health Centre in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, which delivers quality health services in this rural area.
Other examples of our support in strengthening health systems in disadvantaged communities are the Gogi Modise clinic in the Northern Cape and the Jalamba clinic that serves the remote Tafalehashe community in the Eastern Cape. In recent discussions with the Eastern Cape Health Department, we agreed to help develop a business plan for creating a model health service in selected districts of the province. Our ultimate intention is that successful models of district health systems strengthening be replicated, thus building a much improved overall health service for South Africa.