The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has released a report that benchmarks the 2020 safety performance of its members. “ICMM members have an unwavering commitment to the health and safety of their workers and are working to eliminate fatalities, towards a goal of zero harm. To support this commitment, ICMM compiles, analyses, and publishes the safety data provided annually by company members. Regrettably, in 2020, ICMM company members recorded 44 occupational fatalities. This compares to 287 fatalities recorded in 2019 and 50 fatalities recorded in 2018.
The report analyses fatalities based on the cause (or ‘hazard’) and provides safety performance metrics by county and company. In 2020, 12 fatalities were caused by ‘fall of ground’ incidents, and eight were related to mobile equipment and transportation. Company member operations in South Africa had the highest fatality rate of 0.052, recording 22 fatalities from 422.1 million hours worked. Operations in Indonesia recorded six fatalities and Brazil four, where 80.6 and 353.3 million hours were worked, respectively. In 2020, 12 members reported zero fatalities including Antofagasta Minerals, BHP, Hydro, JX Nippon, Minera San Cristobal, Minsur, MMG, Newcrest, Newmont, Rio Tinto, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Teck Resources.
Rohitesh Dhawan, CEO of ICMM said: “As an industry we must do better. 44 people lost their lives whilst at work in 2020 which is a stark reminder of the relentless efforts required to eliminate fatalities and achieve our goal of zero harm. Strong leadership, embedding a zero fatalities mindset, knowing what the biggest risks are and putting in place effective management and controls are vital steps towards this goal. Our members are also focused on improving reporting of and learning from high potential incidents as a preventative tool to keep workers safe.”
He adds: “Effective benchmarking is an important device for driving performance improvement, and we hope this report will trigger important conversations across the industry. At ICMM, it helps us to identify the most effective opportunities for collaboration, such as the Innovation for Cleaner Safer Vehicles. We all have a role to play in eliminating fatalities across the industry, and only by working together will this be achieved.”
ICMM began collating and publishing company members’ safety data in 2012 with the aim of encouraging information and knowledge-sharing among members, and catalysing learning across the industry. This platform of information sharing and learning has continued to support members through the unprecedented challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic where the health and safety of workers and local communities is paramount.
