2009 Montana Mining - Montana Mining Association

step of a job and analyzing the risk associated with each step, reducing
risk as necessary. This level of risk assessment is useful for managing
significant operational changes or high potential jobs.
High-Level Risk Assessment: Used to determine major
safety, environmental, production, economic, or legal risks at a
mine site.
Safety 24-hours per day, 7-days per week
An upside benefit of our safety improvement effort at the mine is
the carryover to our employees’ homes and families. As we develop
a safety value at work, we also begin to change our behaviors at home.
This may include driving slower and more cautiously, wearing safety
glasses in the garage, putting on bicycle helmets, etc. When safety is
an inherent value, it isn’t something that can be left at work. This is a
very important carryover, because our employees are injured more at
home than they are at work. Mobile equipment is a significant area of
risk at work and at home. Our “Drive First” training modules aim to
improve driving habits both at work and at home.
After seeing the mine’s improved safety performance, Tim
O’Donnell, a Golden Sunlight employee, requested that the mine try
to find a way to share its success with the local community of
Whitehall. The community had suffered an inordinate number of
tragedies during the previous year. Based on the request, Golden
Sunlight has hosted an annual safety fair in Whitehall for three years
with the help of various emergency services, medical services, the
Golden Sunlight mill
operator Tim O’Donnell has
been recognized as a Barrick
Safety Champion for
starting the Whitehall
Community Safety Fair.
agricultural industry and recreational groups. The goal of the fair is to
increase risk awareness as well as to provide some simple tools and
basic knowledge to help the community better identify hazards and
reduce their risks during the harvest and recreational seasons.
Conclusion
Barrick Golden Sunlight has had to work very hard to begin to create
the culture required for an accident-free work site. Although we
have made a lot of progress and have had some years with no losttime
injuries, we still have much improvement to achieve in order to
be at the level we would like to be in all nine safety elements.
However, we believe that with our continued focus on safety improvement,
particularly with our Courageous Leaders and their use of risk
assessment, we can create an incident-free workplace where every
employee can go home safe and healthy each and every day. �
Montana Mining Association www.montanamining.org 45