Global resources group Anglo American continued to be “profoundly dissatisfied” with the company’s safety performance, Anglo chairperson Mark Moody-Stuart said in the group’s 2005 annual report.
During 2005, 46 people died at Anglo’s managed operations compared with 49 in 2004.
Anglo’s fatalities are significantly higher than its traditional rivals.
Resources group Rio Tinto reported two fatalities during 2005 and BHP Billiton reported three fatalities at the group’s managed operations in the year to June 2005.
“These figures are unacceptable, inconsistent with our values and must be improved,” Moody-Stuart said.
In response, Anglo had established a new peer-review mechanism to identify and spread ‘best practice’, he added.
“All our senior executives have been through DuPont safety training and a similar leadership programme is being implemented across the organisation. We have established a framework of 12 safety management standards,” Moody-Stuart stated.
“This plan is based on three pillars: the creation of a mindset that accepts zero injuries as a realistic objective; ensuring that we learn from each incident and take action to prevent repeats and adherence to a set of simple, non-negotiable standards,” he added.
“After many years of steady improvement, our injury rate appears to have reached a plateau, while our fatality rate improved slightly over the year,” Anglo chief executive Tony Trahar said in the annual report.
“We are directing many more resources to addressing issues of safety and in trying to instil a safety culture through the group. This has started from the top with myself and the most senior executives all having undergone safety training with DuPont, the recognised leaders in this field,” Trahar added.
“Mining is generally regarded as a dangerous business — sometimes justifiably so — but that does not mean accepting that injuries are inevitable. It does mean taking greater care and having the right systems in place to manage risks,” he wrote.
“People are being needlessly injured and killed in the workplace through individuals taking short cuts and generally not adhering to our rules of safety. We are determined to bring about a permanent lowering of the group’s fatality and injury statistics,” Trahar said.
On the issue of climate change, Moody-Stuart said that Anglo must play its part in reducing carbon emissions.
“We have a number of perspectives: as major consumers of energy; as coal producers; as producers of platinum [a key element in autocatalysts and fuels
cells] and as managers of forecasts,” he added.
Anglo’s actions on the climate change front have included setting initial targets for improving energy efficiency, making assumed cost of carbon levels part of investment proposals, investing in coal-bed methane projects and in Australia, Anglo was evaluating a project involving conversion of coal to liquid fuels and potential carbon capture and storage.
The group continued to make good progress in the implementation of its Social Economic Assessment Toolbox or SEAT process.
“SEAT is being implemented at around 40 major sites in 16 countries. The local reports being generated help to improve our interactions with surrounding communities, our local development impacts and our risk management,” Moody- Stuart said. – I-Net Bridge