Safety and wellbeing of our people – key highlights
COURAGEOUS SAFETY LEADERSHIP
Employees at our Granny Smith mine in Australia talk about what safety means to them
Return to work during the pandemic
Steps taken to ensure the safety and health of employees and contractors at our South Deep mine in South Africa
NICK HOLLAND ON OUR SAFETY JOURNEY
An ongoing journey
REMEMBERING ABEL MAGAJANE
It was with great sadness that we reported the tragic passing of our colleague Mr Abel Magajane during the year, following a tragic incident. Abel succumbed from injuries sustained after falling down Twin Shaft Number 2 Reef Orepass on 100 level.
Abel joined South Deep as a Shaft Timberman in December 2019. He is survived by his wife Dineo, and three children, Junior, Katleho and Tshegofatso. We extend our deepest condolences to them and the rest of his family, friends and colleagues.
GROUP SAFEY PERFORMANCE (EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS)
| 1 | We also recorded non-occupational fatalities at our mines during 2017 and 2018. In 2017, a member of the protection services team at South Deep was shot and killed during a robbery at the mine while, in 2018, a member of Tarkwa’s Community Security Task Force drowned in a settling pond on the mine |
| 2 | Since 2019, we have applied Gold Fields’ definitions only in classifying serious injuries. In terms of these definition, a serious injury is one that incurs 14 days or more lost and results in a range of injuries detailed at www.goldfields.com/safety.php |
| 3 | An LTI is a work-related injury resulting in the employee or contractor being unable to attend work for a period of one or more days after the day of the injury. The employee or contractor is unable to perform any of his/her duties. LTIFR is per million hours worked |
| 4 | TRIFR = (fatalities + LTIs + restricted work injuries + medically treated injuries) x 1,000,000/number of hours worked |
| 5 | SER = safety engagements x 1,000/number of hours worked. Safety engagements are conversations between managers and the workforce to improve safety. Reporting of the SER commenced in 2017 |
2025 ESG CHARTER TARGETS
Strategic priority
Partnering to ensure the safety, health and wellbeing of our workforce and alleviating such impacts on our communities
Strategic intent
- Zero fatalities and serious injuries at our operations
- Eliminate vehicular incidents by implementing advanced collision avoidance technologies
- Significantly reduce underground exposure to Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM
- Minimise health and environmental impacts on our host communities
ASSOCIATED GROUP RISKS
1 |
Covid-19 The impact of Covid-19 on our employees, communities and business plan |
7 |
Safety Safety and health of our employees, including occupational illnesses |
RELATED SDG
Good health and wellbeing
OVERVIEW AND HISTORY
Safety is Gold Fields' number one value, and our operations continue to mine only as long as it is safe to do so. Over the past decade, we made significant progress in our efforts to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries at our operations. Unbundling our labour-intensive legacy South African gold mines to Sibanye Gold (now Sibanye-Stillwater) in February 2013 immediately reduced both the number of fatalities at our operations and our TRIFR, the foremost indicator used in the global mining sector to measure safety performance. However, since then, we continue to record at least one fatality every year, as we did in 2020. We also recorded six serious injuries during 2020.
Over the past few years, all our mines have transitioned to the ISO 45001 safety management system that enables an integrated approach to health and safety management. Furthermore, safety management informs the annual performance bonuses of our executives, managers and the broader workforce.
In 2018, we formed a Group Safety Leadership forum and introduced a range of programmes to drive the right behaviours across our business. First among them is our CSL programme, which aims to equip our employees with the practical tools needed to become safety leaders. Over 50% of our employees completed the CSL programme and, once this programme has been rolled out to all employees, we plan to extend our Australian behaviour-based programme, Vital Behaviours, throughout the Group. We are simultaneously implementing a range of new technology systems to enhance our employees' safety, including people tracking, collision avoidance and traffic management.
Over the past 10 years, we have steadily intensified our efforts to prevent occupational diseases and health issues that impact our workforce. These include health risks associated with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL), DPM, Silicosis and Tuberculosis (TB). We comply with all occupational health regulations and, in countries where regulations have not been promulgated, we follow industry best practice standards.
The Covid-19 pandemic has further highlighted the impact of non-occupational diseases on our business. Our operations in Ghana and South Africa have long assisted our employees in dealing with Malaria and HIV/Aids, among others, and our approach to mitigating the effects of Covid-19 was no different. More recently, our operations have also introduced programmes to prevent and mitigate risks associated with mental health issues among our people.
SAFETY TRENDS FROM 2010 TO 2020
1Transitioned from Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate to TRIFR, Sibanye Gold mines excluded for the first time