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Safety and health
The health and safety of our employees is our first priority and our primary objective is to operate the business free of injury and harm.
The health and safety of our employees is our first priority and our primary objective is to operate the business free of injury and harm.
AngloGold Ashanti’s approach to safety, health and wellbeing encompasses occupational, environmental and social determinants (or non-medical risk-factors) of health. We recognise the interconnectedness of safety and health and the broader operating context, which influences our health and safety strategy and initiatives.
Our operating standards are aligned with global best practice, and are designed to proactively identify and mitigate potential safety and health risks. Our health and safety risk management practices and critical control monitoring systems help to ensure that we quantify and manage impacts, and continuously adapt our safety and health strategies.
Central to our focus is a culture rooted in individual and collective accountability, that involves instilling a sense of care and trust, while engaging in ongoing learning of current and future risks. Our safety culture is cascaded through the Company by appropriate messaging and leadership actions including Visible Felt Leadership (VFL).
Our strong safety and health culture is driven through effective and accountable leadership, with the CEO and executive team guiding a culture that prioritises safety and health.
Our Health, Safety and Security policy sets clear expectations for leadership and holds them to account using a number of metrics. We ensure that our objectives and targets are known to employees, contractors and other relevant stakeholders.
Our operational risk management approach is based on the ISO 31000 model, comprising seven steps:
- Identify hazards/threats
- Assess the risk
- Determine controls/critical controls
- Implement controls
- Inform and create awareness
- Monitor compliance
- Review integrity of the system
Our approach to health and safety encompasses
- A drive to continually improve occupational safety and health performance and management systems
- Ensuring that we have competent and capable people occupying health and safety roles, fit-for-purpose equipment, and appropriate systems and procedures
- Proactively identifying, assessing and mitigating employee and contractor safety and health risks and opportunities
- Mitigating community safety and health risks associated with our operations by ensuring that the health and safety of our surrounding communities and environments are not compromised
- Adopting a stakeholder-inclusive philosophy by applying a consultative, participative and constructive approach
- Using data, research and employee feedback to make informed, data-driven decisions, and continually improve performance
For further information, refer to the Sustainability Report 2024: Ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing
Policies and standards
- ICMM Health and Safety Performance Indicators English, pdf
- Group Policy: Health, Safety and Security English, pdf Español, pdf Português, pdf Français, pdf Arabic, pdf
- Group Occupational Health and Safety Management System Reference Manual English, pdf
- Group Procedure: Occupational Injuries Data Definitions and Statistical Reporting English, pdf
- Group Standard: Safety Management English, pdf
- Group standard: Major Hazard Management English, pdf
- Group Standard: Health, Hygiene, and Wellbeing English, pdf
- Group Standard: Major Health Hazard Management English, pdf
HA | Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (per million hours worked)
HA | Fatal Injury Frequency Rate (per million hours worked)
HA | High potential incidents (actual number)
HA | New cases of silicosis (number of new cases)
HA | Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) (number of employees)
HA | All occupational disease frequency rate (AODFR) (per million hours worked)
HA : Independent third party “High Assurance” as having been prepared and disclosed in accordance with the defined reporting criteria and free from material misstatement. Refer to Sustainability Report 2024: Assurance statement.
AngloGold Ashanti’s four-layered model to ensure appropriate assessment of health and safety risks
Level 4: Baseline or full-site risk assessment (includes bowtie assessment)
This level takes an all-enco0mpasing view of the entire site Key geographical areas are identified and main processes are mapped, forming the foundation for a hazard inventory. Potential hazards associated with each process are scrutinised and a risk vale, comining likelihood and consequence, is assigned. Major hazards, categorised with consequenses of major and extreme, are subject to bowtie assessments. The outcome is a c comprehensive risk and criticaql control framework.
Level 3: Project, change or issue-based risk assessment (can include bowtie assessment)
Operating similarly to Level 4 but on a smaller scale, this focuses on specific projects or significant changes within processes.
Level 2: Routine and non-routine task planning assessments
Level 2 concetrates on identifying and controlling hazards associated with routine and non-routine tasks. Unlike Level 4, which addresses major and extreme consequences, Level 2 handles the spectrum of unwanted events, from insignificant to high-risk scenarios
Level 1: Individual or continous risk assessments
This level helps to ensure day-to-day operations occur as safely as possible, with the ability to halt work if safety standards cannot be maintained. Operators use continous risk assessment tools, such as pre-start inspections and stop cards , to verify the safety of ongoing work. Supervisors employ similar tools to ensure critical controls are in place and inspect work processes.
We conduct both external and internal audits to helps ensure ISO 45001 conformance and alignment with AngloGold Ashanti policies at each site.
Silicosis & TB class action settlement
In 2019, AngloGold Ashanti was part of a historic settlement. This settlement not only brought to a close a silicosis class suit by a number of attorneys acting on behalf of former mineworkers, it also sought to address certain shortcomings in the state-run compensation system.
On 10 December 2019, the agreement became unconditional with the delivery of the audited report of the optout process. Only three individuals chose to opt-out, confirming the near unanimous approval of the settlement agreement.
The Tshiamiso Trust started to make its first payouts in July 2021, and will continue to implement the agreement over the next 13 years.
For further information, refer to www.tshiamisotrust.com and www.oldcollab.co.za
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