Occupational safety and health

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In Western Australia, the number of hours worked by employees has been an issue of concern for government particularly as certain working arrangements have been linked to occupational safety and health risks, such as fatigue and impaired performance and thus increased exposure to some hazards.

As a result, a tripartite consultative committee (comprising government, union representatives and industry associations) has drafted a Code of Practice on working hours.

While the field of fatigue management is still relatively new in the mining industry, some evidence suggests that sleep deprivation, sleep disturbances and fatigue are health risks commonly associated with long working hours. Fatigue has also been identified as a potential health risk related to work that involves shifts or regular or periodic night shifts.

Because of its location, most employees who work at Sunrise Dam gold mine live in Perth and surrounding areas and are engaged on a fly-in/fly out (FIFO) roster, where they work for 14 days at the mine and then spend seven days at home.

As part of their induction training, all employees - both AngloGold Ashanti employees and contractors - must complete a compulsory module on fatigue management. This covers aspects such as what is fatigue, the cause and effects of fatigue, circadian rhythms, sleep factors, work factors, health factors, danger periods, sleep debt, stimulants and ways of reducing fatigue.

In addition, during November and December 2005, Roche Mining, the main contractor on site at Sunrise Dam (employing 60% of employees on site), conducted a fatigue management training programme for all its employees. The programme covered the causes of fatigue, rosters, circadian rhythms, sleep, drugs and alcohol, managing shift change, eating, exercising, life away from work and evaluating and developing individual fatigue plans. Examples of the advice given include: listen to your body clock - when you feel tired sleep, stick to regular sleep/waking routines, the only way to cure fatigue is by sleeping, the only way to prevent fatigue is by getting enough sleep. It is known that a minimum of 6.5 hours of good quality continuous sleep is required.

The programme has been accepted by Roche employees as an essential part of their training.

In addition, a code of practice has been developed by the tripartite committee listing hazards that have been identified against a general risk indicator ranging from low risk to high risk. Those at low risk include those working on average 34 to 40 hours a week, while those at high risk are those working above 56 hours a week. In terms of daily working hours, those working eight hours a day are at low risk, while those working 12 hours a day or more are at high risk.

Sunrise Dam has evaluated its operations against this code and has identified areas that can be improved upon. All contractors at Sunrise Dam have also evaluated their own operations against the code using the template developed by Sunrise Dam and are working towards compliance with the code.

Sunrise Dam Gold Mine has been used by the Western Australian mining industry as the mine site that has led the evaluation process and identified leading practices in fatigue management. Sunrise Dam undertook a thorough review over three months of the actions required out of the code, with each contractor site management and safety representative group signing off on their review and agreeing the action plans.