In the stope
Australia has a completely different profile to sites in Brazil. A lot of the educational work in South Africa, and southern Africa, is based on health issues like HIV and TB, as you cannot separate these issues from the workplace. We need to have all-inclusive programmes.
How do the South African, Australian, and South American health issues differ?
CB: In Australia, Anglo American is mainly dealing with mental issues. There is more awareness about mental issues generally, and this trend has also been identified in other developed countries in Europe where employers are trying to understand the baggage a worker brings to the workplace. Too much debt and extended family responsibilities, for example, have an enormous impact on the mindset and productivity of a worker. The question is, how do we deal with this? How do we support these people? These issues affect all levels of employees, from mineworkers to supervisors and executives— we are only now starting to unpack the stress that people are living with. The modern lifestyle adds to the problems. People are connected 24 hours a day, so the work burden doesn’ t just disappear.
In South America, we have to address different health issues in different countries. In Brazil, the focus is on HIV and TB, probably on a lesser scale than in South Africa, but it is prevalent. In Chile, it is more the classical workplace challenges such as occupational exposure to dust and noise. We are also running some mines at altitudes over 3 000m, which presents other challenges.
Do you find that external factors have a significant impact on fatigue, and how does it affect your fatigue management programmes?
CB: Fatigue is a complex, multifactor problem that has many potential effects. We realised that people often arrive at work tired because of what they do outside of work, their travel time to and from work, long working hours, and so on. Fatigue is a potential safety and health risk and needs to be managed and controlled. Worker fatigue, however, cannot be eliminated altogether, but can certainly be controlled. In the Anglo American fatigue management programmes, we work towards achieving a balance between workload and staffing and shift scheduling. Employees receive fatigue training to empower them to manage their fatigue. We assess alertness( readiness) for duty and do fatigue monitoring while employees are on duty. Our medical surveillance programmes also consider fatigue’ s contributing factors. A serious fatigue management programme needs input from different functions( for example HR and Mine Planning); not only from the health discipline.
What are the mental and physical effects of working underground?
CM: Underground mining is associated with physical exertion, heat, airborne pollutants, and exposure to noise. Efficient ventilation is of critical importance to the health and safety of underground miners. The continuous supply of fresh air provides cooling and dilution of toxic and flammable airborne pollutants.
To mitigate the exposure to noise, second-generation rockdrill mufflers have been rolled out at underground mines. In addition, customised hearing protective devices have been made available to employees. Other key considerations include nutrition, potable water, and ablution facilities.
To deal with the negative psychological impact of safety incidents, as well as other workplace psychological and social stressors, employee assistance programmes are in place.
CB: Underground mining is hard physical work. Through our functional assessment and rehabilitation centres, we understand the physical requirements of the jobs on the ground. Certain work requires specific physical abilities. At Anglo American’ s assessment centres, a detailed assessment process is undertaken to determine whether workers can perform the role expected of them.
Does Anglo American monitor the nutritional and water intake of its workers?
CM: The quality of both the surface and underground drinking water is closely monitored. Regular samples are collected to monitor the water quality. Ablution facilities are available and cater for the changing demographics; that is, the progressively increasing number of women in mining.
To cater for physical exertion and heat, balanced nutrition is provided at the single accommodation villages.
Which programmes are in place to deal with the mental health of workers after an accident or fatality?
CM: The prevention of safety and health incidents remains our key priority. Underpinning the implementation of the operating model and operational risk management, we continue to improve work planning, work management, and critical control management. Both safety and health risk management focus areas seek to achieve a step change in safety and health performance.
Our employee assistance programme is driven by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals— including social workers and a network of psychologists. Workers have an option to self-refer or can be referred by their line managers or human resources. After an incident, trauma debriefing and counselling sessions are arranged for the team or crew that experienced or witnessed the incident.
We are currently working with several universities to understand the level of burnout of employees, the safety risk behaviour of employees, and stress levels. The research has found that social factors and work management contribute to stress and mental health issues. The roll-out of culture transformation programmes and initiatives, such as the Nkululeko programme dealing with indebtedness and financial literacy, complements the other interventions aimed at risk management. As an industry, we have to appreciate the various factors influencing workers’ health, including social factors external to the workplace, and design workplace programmes that consider the workplace and socio-economic factors that contribute to the well-being of employees.
How far have we come in terms of mental health?
CB: We are now moving to that space where it is okay for a worker to tell his or her supervisor that there is a problem, and that it is fine for a supervisor to have a discussion about what is wrong if someone is not feeling 100 %. Two years ago, Anglo American Platinum initiated a programme whereby‘ wellness ambassadors’ get coached into having discussions with employees about their state of mind. b
[ 28 ] MINING MIRROR AUGUST 2018