April 2011 Safety Message

2010 Injury Analysis:

In the past months we have carried out an extensive analysis of our injuries from 2010 that included 34 medical aid injuries and 4 lost time injuries. The findings are only our interpretations however I thought it would be good to share with the group what we might consider either some trends or common themes in our injuries from 2010 and provide some further awareness going forward that might help in our goal of zero harm.

Nearly 50% of the Medical Aid injuries were Lost Ability Type injuries where the worker was away from regular duty for an average of three (3) weeks on modified duty. The Lost Time injuries averaged two (2) months in duration where the worker was off work. Of all the treatable injuries it appears the number of injuries were the same on weekends as they were during the weekdays. The injuries generally occurred at all hours of the 24 hour day. There were slightly more injuries between the hours of 6am to noon, however we do have more population working during the dayshift hours. The analysis seems to indicate more injuries in the age category between the ages of 41 to 50 especially when you compare to the age group 18 to 40 years of age. When we looked at the years of experience with Cementation only, it could be interpreted that there were slightly more injuries for those workers with 11 to 15 years of experience as compared to those workers with 0 to 10 years of experience with Cementation. At this time we cannot conclude if these employees with 11 to 15 years are second career people since a comparison must still be made to total overall years of mining experience. The analysis also might indicate the number of injuries is higher when a worker is on a project in their first year. This does not mean the first year of a project based on the start date of the project but rather the first year in which an employee arrives on a project. Once the employees are on a project for more than a year, this group seems to have less injuries. When we looked at the different type of work we perform, the injuries were consistent whether it was shaft sinking or development. Mechanized raising showed slightly higher injuries but with a small population and the underground construction showed slightly less injuries. And finally, when we looked at projects that had less than 100 employees (7 projects averaging 24 employees) the number of injuries was considerably higher when we compared to projects with more than 100 employees (2 projects averaging 168 employees).

Overall our injury frequencies improved in 2010 as compared to 2009 but this analysis shows we must maintain focus and awareness in all aspects of our business and one that includes everyone, every time of the day.