Health and safety
Safety management
Our standing requirements governing how we assess, authorise, monitor and investigate work.
Hazard identification and risk assessment
We identify and assess physical and psychological hazards before work begins, and determine the controls required, including personal protective equipment. We repeat the assessment when the activity or its conditions change, and a change in weather, ground conditions, personnel or equipment is a change in conditions for this purpose. We record the assessment and the controls it produces, and we keep the record at the place the work is done rather than filed elsewhere.
Key facts
Records
We record assessments and hold them at the place the work is done.
Permits
A permit names the hazard, the controls, the authorising person and the period covered.
Medical capability
The time to definitive medical care governs the on-site medical capability required.
Fitness for work
No consequence attaches to a person who declares themselves unfit for work in good faith.
Emergency preparedness and crisis response
We require a site-specific emergency response plan at each site. It addresses medical emergency and evacuation, fire, ground failure, hazardous material release, severe weather and loss of access, and it identifies the time required to reach definitive medical care, which governs the level of on-site medical capability required. We run drills on a defined cycle, train personnel in the procedures, and coordinate arrangements with local emergency services and authorities. We structure our emergency arrangements against the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Health surveillance and wellbeing
We require health surveillance appropriate to the exposures of the role. Occupational health covers physical and mental wellbeing, and we require the early identification of stress, fatigue, psychological strain and ergonomic exposure. We handle health information under the applicable data protection law, and it is not available to line management except in the form of a fitness determination.
Fitness for work and fatigue
Working hour limits and rest periods apply, we conduct substance testing where the law permits it, and we monitor shift patterns in high-risk roles. We do not assign a person who is not fit for work to the task, and no consequence attaches to a person who declares themselves unfit in good faith. We treat travel time to and from remote sites as part of the fatigue exposure rather than as time outside it.
Incident investigation
We report incidents and near misses, investigate them to identify root causes, and follow them with corrective actions that we record and close out. We direct investigation at the system rather than the individual, and an investigation that concludes with the finding that a person was careless, without identifying what allowed carelessness to cause harm, is not a completed investigation. We share findings across sites.
Raising a concern
Employees, suppliers, communities and any other party may raise a concern through the confidential reporting channels. We provide for anonymous reporting, and we do not tolerate retaliation against a person who raises a concern in good faith.
