Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Sandvik Mining achieved Tuesday a full year with no lost-time injuries for the entire APAC region, including Australasia, Asia, and India.
Rowan Melrose, president of Sandvik Mining Asia Pacific, congratulated the workers, stating that a full year LTI free was a remarkable achievement.
“It reflects the commitment, the behaviours and culture of a workforce that values safety and a safe work environment,” he said.
“This result covers not only Australia, but our entire market area – including New Zealand, China, India, South East Asia, Mongolia and Indonesia – encompassing over 2881employees, many of whom work directly in the mining industry across a range of sites and working conditions.
“It is an outstanding result for Sandvik Mining and Sandvik AB – and for the mining industry as a whole,” he said.
“It reflects our employee’s commitment to safety and their continued efforts to improve their workplace standards.
“And results like these raise the bar in terms of our commitment to social responsibility and being an employer of choice – and help to deliver against ever-increasing community expectations.”
However he did cede that it came with challenges.
When Melrose took the role of president of Sandvik Mining Australian operations in 2007, its TRIFR was 46 while the LTIFR was around 15.
“At this time our systems and processes, as well as our understanding of safety and safety systems, were relatively immature,” he said.
“Because of this, during the next 12-18 months, we undertook a real drive to raise awareness, improve our learnings and generally improve our standards with regard to safety in our business. As a result, by mid 2008 our TRIFR had almost halved to 25, while our LTIFR had also halved to 7.5. These numbers then plateaued for the next 24-30 months.
“We recognised that to get to the next level and drive a zero-harm work environment, we had to achieve cultural, behavioural and attitudinal changes in all personnel.
“We changed tack to focus on individual actions and performance, and what standards individuals were prepared to accept,” he said.
It put in place a number of programs to decrease injury rates, and has seen the company’s safety performance levels rise “to the point where we hwave now achieved one year LTI-free”.
“I would like thank and congratulate every individual who has worked with Sandvik Mining over the past year in delivering this result; every employee, contractor, subcontractor and casual,” Melrose added.
