Fall-from-Heights Incidents Bring Greater Attention to Fatality Risks

 

For more than 10 years, Hudbay’s operations were fatality free. Tragically, in June 2021 we lost a colleague and friend in an incident at our Lalor underground mine in Manitoba. The incident, a fall from height, occurred during underground mining operations. Following the incident, all underground mining operations at the Lalor mine were suspended during the investigation. The Incident Cause Analysis Method (ICAM) investigation identified several factors, conditions, actions and absent controls that contributed to the accident. The findings and key learnings were then used to develop recommended corrective actions – including sharing the ICAM investigation with all crews, reviewing fall protection requirements with all workers, and creating a better process for communication between supervisors.

In December, our Peru Business Unit recorded its only lost time incident at the mine site in 2021 when a worker was seriously injured after falling without proper fall arrest protective equipment.

We believe these safety incidents are unacceptable and avoidable, and we are continually working to improve safety procedures and understanding at all levels of our operations.

Although their programs differ slightly, both the Peru and Manitoba business units have identified their top fatality risks and the critical controls that need to be in place to prevent a serious incident from happening.

Among the corrective actions recommended in the ICAM investigation were audits on the effectiveness of the controls. In Manitoba, before starting work, everyone must fill out a field risk assessment (FRA) card to identify the hazards in their workspace that could hurt them. The FRAs link to the Life Saving Rules (LSRs), which are controls that must be in place before completing tasks. FRA audits, which have been in place for around a year, have helped workers view the FRA as an important step in keeping them safe rather than an exercise in filling out paperwork. The audits are also an important element of our Visible Felt Leadership program, in which leaders have face-to-face conversations with their team members in the field on safety issues, especially those matters related to the LSRs. The audits involve superintendents and other leaders having meaningful, one-on-one safety conversations with team members who are actively engaged in work. The audit often relates to the work being undertaken, the risks, and the LSRs that keep themselves and others in the workplace safe. The goal is for everyone to undergo at least one audit per year.

In Peru, we conduct both internal and external audits of our occupational health and safety management system and the management of our top safety risks.

Both the fatality in Manitoba and the serious injury in Peru demonstrate the importance of building a culture of safety in the workplace so that everyone has an unwavering focus on identifying serious hazards and ensuring controls are in place to prevent serious incidents from happening.

Hudbay’s operations leadership team is planning further examination of our oversight systems to identify where we can refine our systems to further reduce the risk of such events.