Safety performance
Please refer to the following sections for details on our safety performance during this reporting period.
To understand the systems we put in place to manage our performance, refer to the Safety management section.
Fatalities
Safety efforts made to pursue Zero Harm in our organisation have been extensive and in many instances successful; however, we are deeply saddened to report that 17 fatalities occurred at our controlled operations and activities. The impact of these incidents on our people, their families and friends is deep and profound and we offer our sincere condolences to all impacted by these tragic events. We are determined to eliminate fatalities from all our operations and we will not be satisfied until this is achieved. These incidents have increased our resolve and reinforced our dedication to the work and challenges before us.
The investigations of these fatal incidents revealed some clear focus areas for the sites concerned and the broader organisation. Improvement opportunities were identified in contractor management approaches (12 of the 17 fatalities were contractors), safety leadership effectiveness, consistent and rigorous application of standards and systems, near miss reporting standards, compliance with procedures, change management, risk awareness, and drug and alcohol testing programs.
Specific actions taken in response to these incidents included:
- At our Samancor Chrome operations in South Africa, unprecedented actions were taken to address the safety concerns and accelerate engagement of all levels of the workforce. The sites at Eastern Chrome Mines, Tubatse Ferrochrome, Middelburg Technochrome, Middelburg Ferrochrome and Ferrometals were shut down entirely for periods of up to three weeks, so that safety issues could be identified and addressed without any pressure from production activities. For further details, see our case study: Samancor Chrome shuts down operations to implement intensive safety program in response to workplace fatalities.
- The Koornfontein/Douglas operations of our South African Ingwe Coal operations were shut down for over a week in order to enable a refocus on safety of the operations.
- The Suriname operations were shut down for up to a week while the entire workforce underwent a complete review of activities and processes in place. Operations were not recommenced until all immediate issues identified were addressed.
- The BHP Billiton Iron Ore operations in Western Australia suspended operations across all sites to brief employees on the incidents and lessons learned. As of the date of reporting, the Boodarie Iron operation remains shut down pending the results of safety investigations into the incident there.
Each of these incidents has been thoroughly investigated, utilising our Incident Cause and Analysis Methodology (ICAM) with lessons learned being shared across the organisation. The relevant Customer Sector Group President personally visited the site concerned after the incident and then reported, together with site leadership, the findings and actions of the investigation direct to the HSE Committee of the Board.
We also monitor significant incidents that result from activities related to our business but not directly within our management control. Included in this category are, for example, incidents that occur at operations we have an interest in but do not manage, injuries suffered by an employee travelling from their residence to work, or an injury that is solely the result of an employee undertaking personal activities. During the reporting period, six fatalities within this category were reported, down from 16 in the previous period. Of these, two were at joint venture operations managed by our partners and four occurred at or around our sites but were not associated with our work activities.
The elimination of fatalities from our operations remains our highest immediate issue, and we are determined to relentlessly pursue this in accord with our Charter values.
The graph below presents the fatalities at our controlled operations and activities from 2001/02 to 2003/04.
Fatalities at our controlled operations 2001/02 to 2003/04
One of our great strengths is our diversity and the commitment of our people to continuously look for ways to improve all aspects of our business. Through the efforts of our people, we have many businesses operating in all regions of the world, including developing nations, where excellence in safety has been and is being consistently achieved. A key part of our improvement strategy is to identify and share the key success factors at these operations and incorporate them in our global standards and practices. For a better understanding of our challenges in this area, refer to our sustainability challenge on Fatal risks.
HSEC reporting system
Over the reporting period, a Company-wide central HSEC reporting and storage system was introduced. The system, a module of our First Priority HSEC information system, has provided additional rigour and consistency to our overall HSEC performance reporting.
The introduction of the new HSEC reporting system coincided with a review of our safety definitions, resulting in a slightly adverse impact on both current and historical safety data. Specifically, the changes made included the following:
- Data for the past three years are now stored in the central auditable database. These data are entered directly by site safety administrators and go through a site verification process before being transferred to the central database.
- The definition of a classified injury was modified to align it with the internationally recognised US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. The definition now includes any injury where calendar days are lost, as opposed to rostered workdays under the previous definition. This has caused an increase in the number of classified injuries reported under the new definition.
An HSEC Reporting Manual was also developed during the period to assist with the common application of reporting standards across the organisation.
Classified Injury Frequency Rate
Classified injury, a broader injury indicator, was introduced as the principal safety outcome indicator last year. A classified injury is any workplace injury that has resulted in the person not returning to their unrestricted normal duties after the day on which the injury was received. The Classified Injury Frequency Rate (CIFR) is the number of classified injuries per million workhours. The CIFR for the reporting period was 4.95 compared with 5.38 for 2002/03 (adjusted following definitional alignment with OSHA as mentioned above). This represents an 8 per cent decrease during the reporting period, and an overall 26 per cent decrease to date against our baseline, and is in line with our target for a 50 per cent reduction in our Classified Injury Frequency Rate by 30 June 2007.
Classified Injury Frequency Rate 2001/02 to 2003/04
The graph above presents our Classified Injury Frequency Rate (employees and contractors) from 2001/02 to 2003/04.
For details on our strategies to improve our performance in this area, refer to the discussion on Safety management.
Safety incidents
The BHP Billiton HSEC Consequence Severity Table (PDF 40KB) is the key tool utilised in determining the level of significance of actual or potential incidents. Significant safety incidents are those incidents ranked four or above in the table. Across the Company, we seek to encourage the reporting of near miss or potential incidents in order to understand our areas of risk and assist with the implementation of preventative measures before actual outcomes occur.
The graph below provides an analysis of the significant safety incidents reported across the organisation since the merger, aligned with our major risk categories, further emphasising the importance of our Fatal Risk Control Protocols.
Significant safety incidents by fatal risk control protocol and incident
type 2001/02 to 2003/04
During the year, a key focus has been to raise awareness of, and further encourage, near miss reporting. This has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of potential significant incidents reported, enabling us to identify early components of potentially fatal risks, raise awareness and put in place actions aimed at preventing these risks from manifesting into serious outcomes.
This is indicative of an increasing level of reporting maturity across the organisation that will continue to be encouraged.
Details of all significant incidents and their investigation findings are collated and circulated to relevant line managers and HSEC personnel on a weekly basis. The incidents are then stored on our Significant Incident intranet site for reference.
During the year, enhancements were made to this website, providing the ability to drill down and analyse the underlying causes and contributing factors in each risk category.
The graph below provides an example of a cause and contributing factor analysis for surface mobile equipment, which represents 26 per cent of the significant incidents reported over the past three years. This type of analysis enables focus areas to be identified and targeted.
Basic cause categories – surface mobile equipment significant incidents 2001/02 to 2003/04
Safety fines
Regrettably, we did not meet our goal this year of zero safety fines or prosecutions. The table below outlines the safety fines for this period.
| Site | Customer Sector group | Description | Fine (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Worsley |
Aluminium | Fined AUD$10 000 due to a breach of the Mines Safety and Inspection Act associated with an incident on 14 April 2002 that resulted in an employee sustaining arm and chest injuries while attempting to jump-start a truck. | 6 863 |
|
Robinson |
Base Metals | Fined US$540 due to nine safety citations received from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. | 540 |
|
Boodarie Iron |
Carbon Steel Materials | Fined AUD$15 000 due to a breach of the Mines Safety and Inspection Act associated with an incident on 27 February 2002 that resulted in burns to an employee. | 10 295 |
|
Navajo Mine |
Energy Coal | Fined US$3956 due to 26 safety citations received from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. | 3 956 |
|
Navajo Mine |
Energy Coal | Fined US$795 due to 54 safety citations received from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. | 795 |
|
San Juan Mine |
Energy Coal | Fined US$2186 due to 79 safety citations received from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. | 2 186 |
|
San Juan Mine |
Energy Coal | Fined US$5226 due to 93 safety citations received from the US Mine Safety and Health Administration. | 5 226 |
|
Escondida |
Base Metals | Fined 3 119 655 Chilean pesos due to a transgression associated with food handling. | 4 654 |
|
Newcastle Steelworks |
Not applicable – closed site | Fined AUD$250 000 due to a fatal incident at the former Steelworks site in 1999. | 171 575 |
| Total | 206 090 |
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