Cutting risk: Dr Wynand van Dyk presented a recent lecture on safety in South African mines.

Van Dyk’s lecture formed part of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment’s safety week at the end of July. A chemical engineer who now runs a consulting firm, Van Dyk also heads a UCT programme that trains Anglo American employees in safety management.

The course is based on the Safety Risk Management Process programme adopted by Anglo American worldwide, and aims to establish and embed a world-class safety risk management process that delivers radical improvement in safety for all its employees. It is run in Australia, Chile, Brazil, the US, Canada, England and, of course, South Africa, where it’s presented by UCT, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Pretoria.

To date, UCT has delivered 16 courses, with another six planned for 2009 alone. In his talk, Van Dyk stressed the role engineers can play in mining safety. “We design, maintain and operate processes that harness energies to do work,” he said. “We therefore need to understand the energies and put effective controls in place to prevent the unwanted release of energies.”

Anglo American’s goal is to achieve Zero Harm and, since the SRMP was introduced in 2008, the number of fatalities has reduced by 29% and the number and severity of lost-time injuries1 have continued their downward trend, with a 27% improvement.

Cynthia Carroll, Chief Executive of Anglo American, said:

“We have set an industry standard for risk management with SRMP. It is a critical element of our own safety improvement strategy and is helping to improve safety across our operations by introducing the use of proven best practice risk-control strategies and establishing a common understanding. I believe if the right approach to risk is taken and we learn from incidents, we can manage the risks our people face and mine injury-free”.

The SRMP was developed by Anglo American and the University of Queensland, Australia. It includes best-practice insights gained not only from the mining industry but also from the nuclear, aviation and chemical sectors. This innovative programme is being delivered worldwide through a network of universities in major mining regions, including Australia, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and the UK.

The programme includes courses for senior executives and line managers and, within Anglo American, more than 4,000 managers have already been trained in the programme. Further courses have been designed for supervisors and frontline staff that will allow everyone to make the right decisions affecting safety.

University of Queensland Professor Jim Joy, who developed the programme, said:

“This initiative leads the industry in recognising that in order to achieve zero harm you need good understanding of the issues and of the methods required for achieving line-driven ownership of approaches to reducing risk. Anglo American has set a standard and, recognising that safety is an industry issue, is offering the opportunity for other companies to join in the education. The global nature of the initiative is also unique in that it involves a network of high quality universities, delivering the same programme in local languages, with local experts.”

In South Africa, for example, Professor May Hermanus of the Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry at the University of the Witwatersrand said:

“Translating risk management into a serviceable strategy in the workplace and in the boardroom is a difficult challenge. This well-designed programme with its practical tools and participatory approach has the potential to significantly improve work processes and save lives.”

Professor Jean-Paul Franzidis of the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town (UCT) agreed:

“We believe this global initiative has the potential to change the mindset of people on the mines towards risk and safety. Extending this to a global network of universities will see the course used as a vehicle for effecting radical and fundamental improvements in safety and risk management, creating a new paradigm in mine safety.”

Godfrey Gomwe, Executive Director of Anglo American South Africa, said:

“Our Tripartite partners, the Unions and the Government, have been active participants and supporters of the SRMP. By opening up this innovative programme to the mining industry – and beyond – through our university partners, we hope to make a significant contribution to the improvement of safety in mining around the world. Anglo American has opened up 20% of the places on all courses globally to external delegates. These have already been taken up by members from unions and the government, as well as civil society and regulators in South America and Australia.”

The University of Pretoria’s Head of the Department of Mining Engineering, Dr Ronny Webber-Youngman said:

“The main objective is that all mining companies internationally will eventually be in a position where the risk management process, incorporating principles and practices, are uniform and transferable from one company to another.”

Occupational Health is the UK’s leading publication dedicated to the occupational health profession and its Awards recognise those companies who have excelled within the field over the course of the year.

Winners for the 2009 Awards were selected by an independent panel of judges, including Dr Tony Stevens, president of the Society of Occupational Medicine, who was involved in the selection of the Lisheen mine as a category winner.

“[Anglo American's] was a well presented submission that clearly set out the challenge facing management and the process that was undertaken to deliver improvements in occupational health and safety using a risk-based approach,” Dr Stevens said. “Areas of risk to occupational health and safety were identified, line management were engaged and a clear process was described.”

For a number of years, the Lisheen mine has implemented the principles of good health risk management, in keeping with the Anglo Occupational Health Way and using the principles in the Anglo Safety Risk Management Process as interpreted for health. The award, therefore, comes as welcome recognition for the hard work of all those involved.
The Lisheen model for health risk management includes an interpretation of the recently introduced Anglo Safety Risk Management Process. It was developed in collaboration with Anglo Technical and the Safety and Sustainable Development Unit and this contributed to the development of the new proposed approach to health risk management throughout Anglo American.

The categories for the 2009 Awards were: Risk management and Ill-Health Prevention; Absence Management; Occupational Health Teams; Managing Stress and Mental Health; Innovation in Occupational Health; and Health Promotion and Wellbeing. Companies such as Nestlé and SELEX Galileo were among the other winners.