Kanowna’s SafeSpine Program
The Kanowna operation in Australia introduced the SafeSpine Program in 2010 and the latest review has shown a 60 percent reduction in physical strain injuries. Kanowna employees participate in a stretching routine prior to heading off to work and at various times during the day.
Occupational Health
Occupational health management refers to the identification and control of the risks arising from physical, chemical, and other workplace hazards. These hazards may include chemical agents, dusts and solvents, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and physical agents such as loud noise or vibration. Occupational health management is a systematic approach to anticipating, identifying, evaluating, and controlling these health hazards and exposures.
In 2008, Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) were conducted at most of our sites to identify potential health risks, and the current controls in place to reduce or eliminate those risks while also providing a healthier work environment for our employees. The HRAs included efforts to ensure the work environment met the best exposure standards related to risk factors such as dust, silica, noise, or the presence of chemicals. In 2009, we improved our capability to conduct exposure monitoring, at a number of sites, by building industrial hygiene capacity and training key health and safety personnel in industrial hygiene principles and techniques. Most sites now use a dedicated database that allows the capture and analysis of this sampling data in order to better understand hazards and mitigate the risks. Our Safety and Health Management System requires all sites to periodically review their HRAs in order to make improvements. In 2011, all regions updated their Risk Assessments.
Through our Health Risk Assessments, we have confirmed that the highest risk areas in occupational health at Barrick’s operations are, consistent with the industry as a whole, silicosis, noise-induced hearing loss, and physical strains. To that end, we have directed most of our energy to these areas in terms of data collection and mitigation strategies. In 2011, our sites made significant strides in improving their data collection methods and implementing controls.
Along with reviewing safety programs, Barrick’s corporate audit teams also include the evaluation of health programs during an audit. This includes evaluating worksites, including projects and development sites, to ensure that health hazards have been identified and appropriately addressed, along with evaluating on-site and off-site wellness program opportunities (shift/sleep schedules, fatigue, diet cycles, pre-work preparation/warm-up, etc.) to enhance worker wellness and reduce incidents.
Welders at Buzwagi learn how to use a sampling pump to test for welding fumes.
In 2007, we began to gather data on the causes for absenteeism due to illness and have identified the top causes of days lost to illness; musculoskeletal strains and sprains, upper respiratory infections and off the job injuries. These three continue to be the main causes of days lost.
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria remain a health problem for employees and community members in Africa and Papua New Guinea. We have programs in place, often in collaboration with NGO partners, to address these illnesses, including HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT), HIV/AIDS awareness programs, peer educator programs, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programs and mosquito abatement programs.
Barrick now tracks, company-wide, a number of work-related illnesses.* In 2011, there were 16 new cases of hearing loss, three new cases of hand-arm vibration syndrome and 20 new cases of musculoskeletal syndrome.
Our sites carry out specific occupational health activities and programs, depending on the exposure at each site. These can include:
- Noise monitoring, audiometric testing, and use of hearing protection
- Respiratory fitness, including pulmonary function tests, and use of respiratory protection
- Mercury, arsenic and lead biological monitoring
- Ergonomic assessments
- Wellness programs
- Global Corporate Challenge
Fit for Duty: To keep people safe, they must be able to do the job they have been hired to do. We are currently evaluating job positions within the company for both physical and mental requirements. Once completed, these Physical Demand Analysis (PDA) studies will be added as an addendum to each job description. The PDAs include RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) measurements, REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) measurements, sensory demands, physiological demands, environmental conditions, tool usage analysis and more. A PDA study is being piloted at one Barrick mine and will result in a PDA profile for each job position at that site. These profiles can then be added to job descriptions at all of our mines. Along with the PDA studies, Barrick is currently developing an ergonomics-awareness and training package, and improving our pre-employment screenings to include minimum physical requirements.
Food Safety
In 2010, through our risk assessment process, Barrick identified that food safety at our sites with catering services was an area of potential risk. As a result, we commissioned a third party consultant to travel to all sites in Africa, Australia, PNG, the Dominican Republic and South America to conduct a food safety assessment and to make recommendations on food hygiene standards. Subsequent to this consultation, we developed a corporate Food Safety Standard for all on-site catering services. The Standard follows the worldwide Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) protocols. We also developed a scoring system to compare ourselves with the food services industry globally. The Standard includes internal audits at regular intervals and a process of external audits if minimal scores are not met or a significant food related incident occurs. The Standard was implemented in 2011. Food safety inspections were completed at all sites with catering services and provided an on-the-spot training opportunity for site staff, along with benchmarking of HACCP scores. Subsequent inspections resulted in much higher scores. As required in the Standard, these inspections will continue on a regular basis.
Industrial Hygiene: Industrial hygiene is the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace conditions that may cause workers’ injury or illness. Industrial hygienists use environmental monitoring and analytical methods to detect the extent of worker exposure and employ engineering, work practice controls and other methods to control potential health hazards. Barrick added more resources to the Industrial Hygiene teams in 2011. We hired two Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIH’s) for corporate positions and are continuing to hire regional industrial hygienists to lead regional occupational health and hygiene programs. We have also developed a global database to collect exposure data, which is helping us identify areas where controls are lacking or not adequate.
For example, we conducted a Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) study at several operations in the Australia-Pacific Region in 2011 to identify controls to place on equipment for reducing diesel emissions. These controls have now been implemented. We also conducted a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of diesel particulate filters, and are exploring ways to eliminate DPM in our underground operations. Noise produced during arc welding was also identified as a health issue. Using current technology, we explored how to implement noise controls for arc welding and, in 2011, developed a modified nozzle for the air arc tool that significantly reduces the noise produced during welding. The modified nozzles have now been adopted by our operations. Dust is a significant occupational health risk and to address this issue we have developed a Respiratory Protection Standard, which is being implemented across the company. All sites must achieve compliance with the Standards in 2012.
Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS): Fatigue is inherent in any operation where employees work late into the night, start early in the morning, or work long hours. Fatigue negatively affects an operation in many ways: fatigued employees are less productive, more prone to health problems, more likely to quit and, most importantly, more likely to be in an accident. Barrick is currently developing a FRMS using the science of circadian physiology. As part of the development of the FRMS, one of our North American mines piloted a study in 2011 reviewing incident reports looking at the probability that fatigue is involved in safety incidents.
Fatigue Measurement Technology: In past years, individual Barrick mines purchased their own devices for fatigue measurement, primarily based on the manufacturer’s testimonial. In 2011, Barrick’s in-house research and development team conducted an independent study of fatigue measurement devices at three sites to determine which devices delivered what they promised. The project will be completed in early 2012, with results released shortly afterwards.