Health Management
Please refer to the following sections for details on our health management initiatives during this reporting period.
Employee health
Swiss Cheese Model – reducing employee health exposures
The Swiss Cheese Model, derived from the original concept coined by James Reason and illustrated in the diagram above, is a useful tool to assist us in illustrating that more than PPE is required for adequate employee protection. Each hole in the cheese is symbolic of a potential pathway of employee exposure. We therefore need to establish a number of measures to reduce any potential for exposure. Use of PPE without the associated knowledge and expertise will create an environment where many potential exposures could occur. Consequently, our health initiatives are aimed at a number of areas of health management.
Refer to the following sections to review our progress in employee health management.
Personal protective equipment
Continued improvement in our PPE program is still very important, and we are seeking to standardise our approach across the Company. For example, we have developed a Personal Protective Equipment Compliance Auditing Guideline to ensure there are standard processes for measuring PPE compliance across the organisation. We are also in the process of developing a respiratory protection guideline to standardise respiratory protection across the Company.
To further reduce our reliance on PPE, we are progressing work in a number of areas. We have commenced an alliance with Caterpillar, one of our major suppliers of earthmoving equipment, to pursue opportunities to reduce noise and vibration exposures of machinery operators. Read more about this in our case study: Alliance with Caterpillar aims to improve HSEC aspects of earthmoving equipment while reducing costs. Along similar lines, we have also made significant reductions in noise levels associated with trucks at our Mt Arthur Coal operations. See our case study: Mt Arthur Coal trucks and excavators designed to meet stringent noise limits.
Exposure standards
Occupational exposure limits are now standardised across the Company. Monitoring of exposure through the Company has also been improved through the updating of the health exposure assessment guideline and the provision of a standard statistical analysis package for all our operations. This process has been further supported by the development of a number of position statements on substances of particular importance to the organisation. Position statements will be developed for substances where there is significant variation in the occupational exposure limits being recommended by leading authorities and/or the exposure is of significance within our businesses.
Position statements have been established for:
- carbon monoxide
- coal tar pitch volatiles
- diesel particulate
- nickel.
Hygiene knowledge base
The need to continually drive quality in occupational hygiene practice has been further supported by the development of a graduate training program with Deakin University. The university is recognised as one of the leaders in occupational hygiene training in Australia. Through our involvement in the graduate program, we are seeking not only to ensure course work is reflective of leading developments in hygiene practice, but also to expose graduates to our operations with the intent of attracting appropriately qualified occupational hygienists in the future.
We have also established an internal occupational hygiene network to facilitate learning by sharing across the organisation. We have now had face-to-face meetings in all regions with members from our occupational hygiene network. Over 50 employees from across the Company are members of this network. The engagement of the network will be critical as we roll out specific initiatives that will be required across our global operations. One example of this is the diesel particulate initiative, where we will be undertaking site-specific assessments to understand how best to reduce potential exposures. Further details on this particular initiative can be read in our case study: Diesel emission project at Illawarra Coal aims to limit employee exposure to diesel particulates.
Community health
We recognise that, as members of the community, our employees and contractors can be impacted significantly by communicable diseases. Our main programs in community health have therefore been focused on the three major infectious diseases, which also impact many of our operations. These are malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS.
For examples of how our programs are progressing in these areas refer to the case studies:
- Seeking ways to help manage the impact of HIV/AIDS on a broader scale – In the communities where our operations are located in South Africa and Mozambique, the incidence of HIV/AIDS is among the highest in the world. We have a responsibility to manage the impact of the disease in order to care for our employees, protect the viability of our operations and support the well-being and development of our host communities.
- Medicines for Malaria Venture aims to develop effective, affordable anti-malarial drugs – Along with TB and HIV, malaria is one of the major infectious diseases responsible for significant illness and mortality around the world. We are supporting the Medicines for Malaria Venture, which has been established through the World Health Organisation with the aim of developing affordable anti-malarial drugs for people in the disease-endemic countries.
- EKATI launches screening program to limit development of TB in the local Inuit population – In the Northwest Territories of Canada, TB is a significant issue among the Inuit population, which, as a consequence, has an impact on our EKATI Diamond Mine operation. In an effort to limit development of the disease, we have embarked on a screening program to detect latent TB infection in our workforce and the local community.
We have also undertaken a number of broader community health initiatives that provide basic community health care facilities. Examples of these can be found in our case studies: Khutala Colliery supports development of medical clinic to provide health services to surrounding communities and Metalloys converts disused employee hostel to a centre offering care to an HIV/AIDS affected community.
On another aspect of community health, we have progressed a number of initiatives in relation to better understanding the impacts of our operations on neighbouring communities. At our Iron Ore operations in Western Australia, we have undertaken extensive community consultation and research to better understand and engage communities around dust impacts from these operations. At our Worsley Alumina facility, also in Western Australia, we have developed a new approach to emissions impact assessment and management. Further details on this initiative are available in our HSEC Awards – Environment.
Consumer health is also a growing area of importance to us and we are involved with industry associations in progressing initiatives. For example, we are currently working with the Nickel Development Institute in relation to the proposed EU Chemical Policy, which will require industry to demonstrate that ‘chemicals’ (which includes metals in this context) are safely produced and managed through their life cycles.
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