Employee Health
This section discusses our approach to managing employee health at our operations. See below for further details:
- Our Model for Reducing Employee Health Exposures
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Exposure Standards
- Hygiene Knowledge Base
- Fit for Work/Fit for Life
Refer to Our Performance for details on our health performance over the reporting period.
Our Model for Reducing Employee Health Exposures
Our approach to employee health recognises that more than personal protective equipment (PPE) is required for adequate employee protection.
A useful tool to illustrate this is the Swiss Cheese Model, derived from the original concept coined by James Reason and shown in the diagram below. Each hole in the cheese is symbolic of a potential pathway to 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.
Swiss Cheese Model – Reducing Employee Health Exposures
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
The use of PPE continues to be important while we search for ways to reduce exposures in the Company. The Personal Protective Equipment Compliance Auditing Guideline and Respiratory Protection Guideline assist sites to ensure there are standard processes for PPE compliance across the organisation.
Exposure Standards
Occupational exposure limits have been standardised across the Company since 2003, which ensures consistent reporting on exposure. There is a Company-wide standard method for assessing exposure, and this is being applied to a computer-based program that will be available to all operations.
Position statements for ten key exposures throughout the Company will be completed in the near term, and these will provide further detail to professionals on how these should be managed. Many of these exposures have the potential to cause cancer, and therefore it is vitally important that we ensure that we manage them at a leading practice level.
Hygiene Knowledge Base
We have successfully commenced a graduate training program for Occupational Hygienists with Deakin University (Victoria, Australia). The first intake occurred during 2005. 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 will continue to monitor the success of the program, with the view to increasing the number of positions available.
The Company-based occupational hygiene network continues to develop and facilitate learning by sharing knowledge across the organisation. Face-to-face meetings occur in all regions of the world. The engagement of this network has proved important for specific initiatives across our global operations. The Diesel Particulate Initiative was advanced through this group, and all underground operations were visited during the year to implement this important work in exposure reduction.
Fit for Work/Fit for Life
Fit for Work/Fit for Life is a Company-wide initiative that was launched during the year to assist our drive towards Zero Harm. The initiative seeks to promote a consistent approach to the management of health issues in the work environment. The initiative recognises that many health issues not only have the potential to impact on our safety performance, but also can cause community issues and consequently impact on our ability to contribute to sustainable development.
The initiative is intended to provide guidance to sites in developing site-based health management programs covering:
- drug and alcohol use
- fatigue management
- medical assessment
- travel health
- ergonomic analysis
- occupational rehabilitation
- health promotion
- employee assistance.
By taking a holistic approach to health management, the initiative intends to ensure:
- we do not adversely impact the safety of our employees
- employees are physically capable of performing all activities required of them
- medical assessments are undertaken where work requirements change
- family members are also involved in educational health programs.
Refer to Our Performance: Employee Health to review our progress in employee health management.
