Barrick maintains emergency response teams at all its sites throughout the world. These highly trained, skilled profession- als are the first responders to any mine emergency. They are experts at first aid, fire-fighting, dealing with hazardous chemi- cals and emergency rescues. The teams log many hours of intensive training to ensure they are well prepared to respond to emergencies. In 2011, our teams completed over 100,000 hours of emergency response training. We also provided 12,600 hours of emergency response training to contractors.
In 2011, Barrick hosted its second Global Rescue Summit where rescue team members from our mines worldwide received advanced training in fire-fighting and rescue techniques at the University of Nevada’s Fire Science Academy. They also received a full day of instruction at the University of Utah’s Medical Center on assessing and treating critical injuries. To support their training, our teams regularly compete in various mine rescue competitions with other mining companies. Many of our emergency response teams have earned awards at these competitions for rescue and fitness challenges.
Our emergency response teams reach out in times of need to the communities where we operate. The Aviation Rescue Team (ART) from Porgera was the first on the scene to a civilian aircraft crash in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 2009. This response team is recognized as the only team with air rescue capability in Papua New Guinea. Emergency response teams in Tanzania and in remote areas of Australia have routinely responded to vehicle accidents in the community and, in Tanzania, have also responded to underground artisanal mining accidents.
Early in 2010, our teams responded, first to Haiti and shortly afterward to Chile, when significant earthquakes struck these areas. Although our operations were not affected in either case, we played an active role in the relief efforts.
Mirroring our response to the 2009 Papua New Guinea tragic aircraft crash, Porgera’s ART responded to a helicopter crash in a remote area on the north coast of PNG in August 2011. PNG Air Service Search and Rescue Centre requested ART’s assis- tance, as their search and rescue teams would need three days to reach the crash site on foot. The Porgera ART, using emer- gency repelling and roping techniques, reached the downed helicopter, secured the site and cleared the area so a Search and Rescue helicopter could land the next day. Unfortunately, the three passengers in the downed helicopter did not survive the crash.
emergency Response training focuses on injuries, accidents, spills and fires.
SAFETY & HEALTH
occupAtionAl heAlth
Occupational health management refers to the identification and control of the risks arising from physical, chemical, and other workplace hazards. These hazards may include chemical agents, dusts and solvents, heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and physical agents such as loud noise or vibration. Occupational health management is a systematic approach to anticipating, identifying, evaluating, and controlling these health hazards and exposures.
In 2008, Health Risk Assessments (HRA’s) were conducted at most of our sites to identify potential health risks, and the current controls in place to reduce or eliminate those risks while also providing a healthier work environment for our employees. The HRAs included efforts to ensure the work environment met the best exposure standards related to risk factors such as dust, silica, noise, or the presence of chemicals. In 2009, we improved our capability to conduct exposure monitoring, at a number of sites, by building industrial hygiene capacity and training key health and safety personnel in industrial hygiene principles and techniques. Most sites now use a dedicated data- base that allows the capture and analysis of this sampling data in order to better understand hazards and mitigate the risks. Our Safety and Health Management System requires all sites to periodically review their HRAs in order to make improvements. In 2011, all regions updated their Risk Assessments.
Through our Health Risk Assessments, we have confirmed that the highest risk areas in occupational health at Barrick’s opera- tions are, consistent with the industry as a whole, silicosis, noise-induced hearing loss, and physical strains. To that end, we have directed most of our energy to these areas in terms of data collection and mitigation strategies. In 2011, our sites made significant strides in improving their data collection meth- ods and implementing controls.
Along with reviewing safety programs, Barrick’s corporate audit teams also include the evaluation of health programs during an audit. This includes evaluating worksites, including projects and development sites, to ensure that health hazards have been identified and appropriately addressed, along with evaluating on-site and off-site wellness program opportunities (shift/sleep schedules, fatigue, diet cycles, pre-work preparation/warm-up, etc.) to enhance worker wellness and reduce incidents.
Occupation Health Performance
In 2007, we began to gather data on the causes for absentee- ism due to illness and have identified the top causes of days lost to illness; musculoskeletal strains and sprains, upper respi- ratory infections and off the job injuries. These three continue to be the main causes of days lost.
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria remain a health problem for employees and community members in Africa and Papua New Guinea. We have programs in place, often in collaboration with NGO partners, to address these illnesses, including HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT), HIV/AIDS awareness programs, peer educator programs, anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programs and mosquito abatement programs.
Barrick now tracks, company-wide, a number of work-related illnesses.* In 2011, there were 16 new cases of hearing loss,
TB and Malaria Cases – PNG and Tanzania 2011
Malaria 1,122
Tuberculosis 21
HIV/AIDS Program Participants – PNG and Tanzania 2011
VCT Program 5,702
ART Program 77
* see World Health Organization (WHO) for definitions of work-related illnesses. Information on work-related illnesses for ABG is not available for 2011.
three new cases of hand-arm vibration syndrome and 20 new cases of musculoskeletal syndrome.
Occupational Health Programs
Our sites carry out specific occupational health activities and programs, depending on the exposure at each site. These can include:
• Noise monitoring, audiometric testing, and use of hearing protection
• Respiratory fitness, including pulmonary function tests, and use of respiratory protection
• Mercury, arsenic and lead biological monitoring • Ergonomic assessments
• Wellness programs • Global Corporate Challenge
Fit for Duty: To keep people safe, they must be able to do the job they have been hired to do. We are currently evaluating job positions within the company for both physical and men- tal requirements. Once completed, these Physical Demand Analysis (PDA) studies will be added as an addendum to each job description. The PDAs include RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) measurements, REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) measurements, sensory demands, physiological demands, environmental conditions, tool usage analysis and more. A PDA study is being piloted at one Barrick mine and will result in a PDA profile for each job position at that site.
These profiles can then be added to job descriptions at all of our mines. Along with the PDA studies, Barrick is currently developing an ergonomics-awareness and training package, and improving our pre-employment screenings to include minimum physical requirements.
Industrial Hygiene: Industrial hygiene is the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace conditions that may cause workers’ injury or illness. Industrial hygienists use environmental monitoring and analytical