Health Performance
Please refer to the following sections for details on our health performance during this reporting period.
To understand the systems we put in place to manage our performance, refer to the Health management section.
Occupational exposures
Employee health and associated occupational illness remains a key focus of our health management. The control of employee exposures and a reduction of occupational illnesses are the thrust of our Company health targets, which will be revised during the coming year to further focus on reduction in these areas.
We have continued to focus on three distinct areas for our exposure measurement data. These are:
- potential exposure of employees above the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for noise (85 dBA 8-hour time-weighted average)
- potential exposure of employees above action levels (50 per cent of the occupational exposure limit) but below the OEL for other exposures
- potential exposure of employees above the OEL for other exposures.
It should be noted that all exposures monitored are potential exposures and do not take into consideration the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) where it is utilised to mitigate exposure. Having said this, our aim, consistent with the ‘hierarchy of control’ approach, is to remove or avoid hazards through engineering or design solutions wherever possible.
The ‘hierarchy of control’ approach involves methods to decrease the exposure source itself or to minimise the potential amount of employee contact. PPE is utilised where this approach is yet to be implemented or is not currently feasible.
The requirement for reporting potential exposures above action levels but below occupational exposure limits has been established to give us an understanding of the potential for harm and enable us to establish proactive plans to mitigate exposures. At levels greater than the occupational exposure limits, it is understood that harmful effects on health may eventually occur in a proportion of individuals if they are not adequately protected. While all operations provide PPE and other measures to reduce exposure, the reporting on employees in this group gives the Company a clear understanding of the exposures that need to be reduced to further minimise the chance of adverse health outcomes. The reporting of these two categories allows the tracking of our efforts to reduce on-site exposures over time and consequently reduce the incidence of occupational illness.
Percentage of employees in potential exposures* 2003/04
While every effort is made to protect all employees potentially exposed from any adverse health effect through the use of PPE, the drive within the Company will be to progressively reduce exposures over time. The graph above illustrates potential employee exposures, if not for the use of PPE, recorded during the reporting period. When compared to the previous period, potential exposures for noise have increased. For other exposures, the exposure data is set against newly introduced Company-wide exposure standards. Our exposure standards in many cases are more stringent than local regulations and reporting processes and set a lower baseline target throughout the Company.
As a consequence of this standardised process of reporting, it has been decided to review our target for exposure for the full year 2004 under these more stringent limits and require that all operations achieve an annual reduction in the number of people potentially exposed above the occupational exposure limit.
Occupational illnesses
New illnesses by type 2003/04
As the graph above illustrates, occupational illnesses continue to be recorded. During the year, 197 new cases of occupational illness were reported throughout the Company, a reduction from 226 last year, resulting in an overall reduction to date of 15 per cent against the baseline. There has been an increase in noise-induced hearing loss being diagnosed across the Company, primarily associated with the detection of cases through enhanced medical surveillance and more stringent diagnostic parameters through use of the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines for noise-induced hearing loss. The medical surveillance program requires a standardised approach to diagnosis and consequently has resulted in an increased awareness of conditions and therefore better diagnostic programs. As shown in the graph below, 80 per cent of employees requiring medical examinations completed those examinations during the period.
Employees who completed medical examination (as % of employees requiring examination) 2002/03 to 2003/04
Personal protective equipment compliance
While the elimination of exposure risks is our key driver, often this is not readily possible or feasible and personal protective equipment (PPE) is utilised. At the end of the reporting period, the status of overall PPE compliance in the Company was 93 per cent, as shown in the graph below. This is an area where we continually seek improvement and are encouraging operations to implement formal audit programs of PPE compliance. To read about some of our initiatives, refer to the PPE discussion in the section on Health management.
PPE compliance 2002/03 to 2003/04
While there was a slight decrease in PPE compliance compared to 94 per cent last year, there was an improvement in the number of operations that have formal audit programs in place for PPE compliance. This increased from 70 per cent in the previous period to 78 per cent, as shown in the graph below.
Formal audit programs for PPE compliance 2002/03 to 2003/04
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