VEHICLE & FLEET SAFETY STAY SAFE


Rene Aguilar, Group Head of Safety Management, from Anglo American takes a look at how employers in the transport industry can enhance road safety for their staff.


Road safety can be a complex issue with a whole host of variables, many of which sit outside of a company’s control. Like many industrial companies, large numbers of vehicles enter and leave Anglo American’s sites every day – including many contractors – and the risks are compounded by the relatively poor quality of public roads in the global geographies that we operate in.


A policy of ‘zero harm’ sits at the foundation of Anglo American’s approach to occupational health and guides everything that we do. In a recent audit, safety on public roads featured in the top ten risks facing our business and we take seriously our responsibility to ensure that each journey is as safe as possible. Consequently, Anglo American established a taskforce to review and improve transport-related processes across the group, trialling a number of road safety initiatives in South Africa and Brazil. Below are five key ways that we are improving our road safety processes.


IMPROVE VEHICLE STANDARDS


OF PERSONNEL TRANSPORT The transportation of people is an activity that is central to all Anglo American’s operations, but is generally dependent on contracted service providers. The taskforce produced an enhanced set of vehicle and driving standards that we have rolled out across the business. All transportation contractors must comply with Anglo American’s light vehicles standards as a prerequisite of working in partnership.


IMPLEMENT FATIGUE


MANAGEMENT Fatigue management is crucial to promoting safety on the road. Between 2011 and 2013, 62 people died and 517 were injured along a road that links our niobium and phosphates operations in


26


Catalão, Brazil. Consequently, a local Anglo American team commissioned medical practitioners to define the best strategy for safe travel, such as regular breaks, hydration and maximum journey times. The new rules were accompanied by a large communications campaign in the local community to drive home the importance of effective fatigue management.


“LIKE MANY INDUSTRIAL COMPANIES, LARGE NUMBERS OF VEHICLES ENTER AND LEAVE ANGLO AMERICAN’S SITES EVERY DAY AND THE RISKS ARE COMPOUNDED BY THE RELATIVELY POOR QUALITY OF PUBLIC ROADS IN THE GLOBAL GEOGRAPHIES THAT THEY OPERATE IN.”


EDUCATE THE DRIVER One of the key dangers on the road is as a direct impact of human behaviour. Dangerous driving, including speeding, overtaking and road rage, can have a significant impact on road safety. The team in Catalão developed a driving awareness course that informs delegates of the impacts of reckless behaviour on the road. The project resulted in a 70% reduction in the number of lives lost over the campaign period.


ENGAGE WITH LOCAL


STAKEHOLDERS Local stakeholders such as local government, technical government bodies, communities and service providers are essential to improving road safety. A team in Mogalakwena, South Africa, established a collaborative project with local road authorities and together we have significantly improved road signage in hazardous areas. Furthermore, the


traffic department are now regularly supplying speed statistics to help us tackle road safety moving forward.


REDUCE ROAD TRAFFIC In general, a quieter road is a safer road. By reducing the number of vehicles on the road, Anglo American sought to improve road safety. The team in Mogalakwena reduced the need for individual journeys by commissioning taxi associations and bus companies to transport personnel, consequently reducing the volume of traffic on the road. Furthermore, the issue of fatigue management has been vastly reduced as fewer employees need to drive themselves.


The initiatives introduced by our internal taskforce and trial projects have demonstrably improved the safety of the roads around our operations and have kept us on the trajectory towards our target of zero harm.


www.angloamerican.com www.tomorrowshs.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64