Occupational safety and health

Towards best practice in open pit mining

During 2004, John de Souza, a specialised hydrologist, was seconded from the Africa region to supervise the installation of a de-watering system at Cerro Vanguardia, in the Santa Cruz province in Argentina. This has been successfully completed, and the water table is now managed so that it is always lower than the pit bottom, assisting greatly with geotechnical stability.

John McEndoo, group manager: safety, who participated in the development of pit evacuation procedures in the event of flooding or rockfalls, comments: "Evacuation procedures are now practised monthly or quarterly, depending on the risk profile of the pit. Where warranted, the evacuation alarm is integrated with the geotechnical monitoring systems."

McEndoo also carried out a review of the mine’s safety management programme. Key recommendations included the formal training of pit supervisors in the pit evacuation procedure and the development of a decision hierarchy in the event that evacuation became necessary, as well as the revision of systems monitoring slope deformation, data management systems and improved standards for berm construction. McEndoo reports that all recommendations have been successfully implemented.

Sunrise Dam awarded prestigious Minex trophy Exploration

Sunrise Dam's commitment to health and safety was recognised again in 2005 when the mine was a finalist in the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Safety and Health Innovation Awards for a device to eliminate accidents when using hand-held electrical tools. The mill operating team came up with the idea of putting a tag on hand-held tools to describe the safety equipment (i.e. eye, ear and hand protection) to be used when operating them. The tag also describes the noise rating for each tool.

Model mine medical facility at Iduapriem Group

Obuasi’s scientific approach to malaria control, via an integrated malaria control programme, soon to be implemented at the mine (see case study in Regional health threats: Integrated malaria campaign at Obuasi underway), as well as Bibiani's study to investigate why current malaria interventions are not as effective as they should be (see case study in Regional health threats: Malaria study at Bibiani), will assist Iduapriem in its efforts to reduce the numbers of patients presenting with the disease at the mine's on-site clinic.

Australian expert evaluates AGA's safety risks

At the South African operations, changing and managing mindset, was a key focus of fall of ground management in 2005, emphasising performance standards, education, training, knowledge, attitude and level of compliance. World-renowned safety training organisation DuPont was tasked with implementing a peer-on-peer safety management and auditing technique (SMAT), which is being implemented top-down at all mines. Production managers have been given the responsibility of ensuring that the system cascades to every employee at every level of each operation. Instead of delivering a set of safety commands, SMAT training adopts an ‘observe and discuss’ approach. Training and education takes place both on surface and in the workplace, and workers are equipped with mini-fall of ground manuals in various forms for quick and easy reference at any time. Although success is difficult to quantify, tangible improvements have been witnessed during several mine visits by management. A safety day was held for the first time at the Ghanaian operations, at Obuasi, in September2005 and was attended by employees and their families. This was followed by a safety workshop for senior production managers from the three operations in Ghana - Obuasi, Iduapriem and Bibiani - and Guinea. Fatigue management has also come under scrutiny at Sunrise dam in Australia. (See case study in Safety and health section: Managing fatigue at Sunrise Dam)

Setting up tropical travel protocols as global travelling increases

AngloGold Ashanti’s continued globalisation has meant continuing expansion for the corporate office clinic, originally established to provide occupational health and primary health care services to corporate office employees.

This is illustrated by the clinic’s increasing workload: in October 2005, Sisters Willemien (Will) McKechnie and Lynn Silcock briefed 168 employees regarding foreign travel, compared with 100 in October 2005, and carried out 47 immunisations, compared with 33 in the same month of the previous year.

Exit medical examinations are now carried out for all employees who leave the company’s service having worked in tropical areas, to monitor infections of malaria and other tropical diseases relevant to the area.

Measures taken to combat driver fatigue

The nature of AngloGold Ashanti's operations means that operator fatigue is a major hazard facing the organisation, particularly in the open-pit operations where employees drive large trucks in an environment where daytime sleep is often difficult.

As reported last year, the company has developed a comprehensive guideline for combating driver fatigue. This has not yet been formally issued, and the intention is to start a pilot project at Navachab mine in Namibia to test the guidelines. Other mines will then be assisted to develop their own fatigue management programmes in line with the guide.

At Sunrise Dam in Australia, the wellness programme reported in 2004 - whereby employees are encouraged to walk to work - is still in place. The mine has also recently introduced a fatigue management programme for all employees. Employees are taught what causes fatigue and given a self-assessment questionnaire. Finally they are taught fatigue-management techniques.

See case study in Health and safety section: Managing fatigue at Sunrise Dam.

Employee attitudes to safety in Mali

The focus at Morila remains on the implementation of the behaviour-based safety programme, first introduced two years ago. This is in an effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate accidents, which are still related to the behaviour and attitude of individuals involved.

Aurum's battle against TB gains momentum

See case study in the Safety and health section: Pioneering TB research programme launched in gold mining industry

Temporary shift in hearing loss study at Great Noligwa

The AngloGold Ashanti South African region’s objectives for noise reduction are aligned with industry milestones:

• After December 2008, the hearing conservation programme implemented by industry must ensure that there is no deterioration in hearing greater than 10% amongst occupationally exposed individuals.
• By December 2013, the total noise emitted by all equipment installed in any workplace must not exceed a sound pressure level of 110dBA at any location in that workplace. (This includes individual pieces of equipment.)

New heat tolerance centre at West Wits

AngloGold Ashanti employs a heat stress management (HSM) programme to promote the health and well-being of its employees and to comply with legislation regarding underground working conditions. HSM’s focus is both on cooling underground working areas and on detecting and excluding from certain occupations, individuals with heat tolerance.

New recruits, employees returning from leave, or sick leave exceeding seven days, and who work in physically demanding jobs at temperatures exceeding 27.5?C wet bulb, are required to undergo heat tolerance screening (HTS).

A new HTS centre at West Wits was commissioned in July 2005. Temperature, humidity and wind speed are electronically controlled, resulting in more accurate temperature control. The new centre is smaller than the old, catering for approximately 20 employees at a time as opposed to 100, and consequently has significantly lower running costs in terms of electricity and maintenance. It also offers employees a more pleasant, less crowded environment.

Controlling dust levels underground remains a focus area

The AngloGold Ashanti South African region’s objectives for crystalline silica are aligned with industry milestones:

• By December 2008, 95% of all exposure measurement results will be below the occupational exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica of 0.1mg/m3. (These results are individual readings and not average results.)
• After December 2013, using present diagnostic techniques, no new cases of silicosis will occur amongst previously unexposed individuals. (Previously unexposed individuals are defined as individuals unexposed prior to 2008, i.e. equivalent to a new person entering the industry in 2008.)

From lagging to leading indicators - Tau Lekoa rises to the challenge

A range of leading indicators are used to monitor and manage performance across the group. These are usually operation-specific and related to identified risks, for example at Cerro Vanguardia in Argentina, geotechnical parameters are considered leading indicators; at sunrise Dam in Australia staff turnover is a leading indicator. The primary lagging indicators of safety performance are the fatal injury frequency rate (FIFR), the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) and the days lost per lost-time injury (which provides an indication of the severity of the lost-time injuries

Mponeng's safety strategy focuses on behavioural change

Following implementation of the DuPont SHARP (Safety, Health, achieve, Respect, Productive) system, Mponeng reached one MFFS for the first time in January 2005

Safety interventions at depth at TauTona

Anglogold Ashanti uses seismic systems at all of its mines to reduce fall of ground incidents and accidents at its mines. A network of seismic stations detects and records energy releases in the ground. All ground movement is measured with sophisticated measuring devices called accelerometers and geophones. The number of sensors installed depends on the mine’s seismicity, the intensity of monitoring and the size of the lease area. Tau Lekoa has six sensors to record all ground movement; this enables the mine’s rock engineers to predict the likelihood of a seismic event and, in turn, revise the mining methodology and strategy in an area where monitoring shows a build-up of seismic activity.

Control of mining-induced seismicity in the South Africa region

See case study in Safety and health: Fall of ground management in South Africa and see case study in Safety and health: Integrated Seismic Systems International (ISSI)

State-of-the-art x-ray facilities at Geita

Nurses at Geita’s on-site medical facility are trained to operate the x-ray machine, which was purchased in 2004. A qualified radiographer ensures the digital x-ray unit is well-utilised and visits the facility for three hours per day.