Safety performance

Our key injury performance measure is the total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) – the number of injuries incurred for every one million hours worked. This measure includes lost time injuries, medical treatment injuries and restricted work injuries to employees and contractors and is a more complete measure of safety performance than lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) alone (which only includes injuries that lead to one or more lost shifts).

The Group’s TRIFR has reduced dramatically over the last nine years as a result of our strong focus on safety leadership, safe behaviours, consistent control systems, assurance, and cultural change. In 2010, the frequency rate for total recordable injuries was seven per million hours worked, representing a halving of the rate since 2006 and a year-on-year improvement of 20%. The LTIFR has also been in long-term decline. In 2010, the Group lost 439,038 days to absences, which included 28,741 days due to injury. This compares with 2009, when the figures were 370,414 and 32,298 respectively.

Fatalities

Preventing fatalities is our absolute priority and we deeply regret that three people lost their lives at our managed operations during 2010, compared with nine people in 2009 and six people in 2008. There were an additional seven fatalities during 2010 at our jointly owned but non-managed operations; three at Collahuasi’s port and four at the Cerrejón coal operation. Xstrata’s Executive Committee and Board HSEC Committee received a detailed presentation by the relevant commodity business chief executive on each incident (as is standard after such incidents) and reviewed their safety management approach and associated action plans in order to make adjustments for preventing similar tragic incidents in the future. Commodity business chief executives also report on follow-up actions at subsequent meetings.

Xstrata’s fatality prevention programmes have achieved substantial improvements in the management of a number of major hazards that have been the principal causes of fatalities at Xstrata’s managed operations to date. In particular, these include reductions in the following incident types: isolation and access, hazardous or pressurised substances and surface mobile equipment. Since 2008, HPRIs associated with these three incident types have decreased by 49%. Some regions represent an ongoing challenge in embedding safe behaviours, risk awareness and safety-focused decision making.

Since 2007, approximately 59% of our fatalities have occurred in South Africa. In part, this reflects the large number of employees that Xstrata has in South Africa and the associated safety management and supervision challenges this brings. Our operations in South Africa have invested carefully targeted effort and leadership to address principal safety hazards as well as awareness and behavioural aspects.

The three fatal incidents in 2010 all occurred in South Africa:

17 July 2010
A contract security officer was asphyxiated during a night shift after making a fire in a small drum inside the closed cabin of an excavator to keep warm.

15 August 2010
A front-end loader operator was standing on top of a pile of attaclay material when he fell approximately four metres onto the grizzly below. It is thought he either lost his footing or the material he was standing on collapsed underneath him. The operator suffered fractured ribs and internal injuries; he died from asphyxiation.

11 December 2010
After loading a shuttle car, a continuous mine operator was crushed by the bumper as the shuttle car departed from the feeder breaker, and succumbed to his injuries after being transferred to hospital.