The health and safety of our employees, contractors, communities, site visitors and the public is critical to our success and continued operation. All our activities, from exploration to mine closure, are conducted with health and safety top of mind and with an “all incidents are preventable” mentality. This is fundamental to being a responsible miner.
Centerra’s health and safety (H&S) processes and systems are designed to ensure that we meet or exceed local, regional, and national health and safety legislation everywhere we operate.
In 2021:
Öksüt Mine’s Health and Safety Management System was successfully certified under ISO 45001.
Conducted a Global Health and Safety month that included activities and discussions at all sites in conjunction with the various Joint Health and Safety groups.
A number of Centerra’s sites achieved several significant H&S milestones, including Lost Time Injury Free and Reportable Injury Free milestones.
Work Safe/Home Safe
We continue to prioritize H&S training for all employees and contractors. Our top priority is to ensure that every employee, contractor, and site visitor returns home safely after every shift or mine visit.
The implementation and rollout of Centerra’s Work Safe/Home Safe Program was completed in 2018, with the second phase of the program beginning in 2019. The program is central to delivering health and safety training throughout Centerra, and to building an organization-wide culture of safety leadership. Our program focuses on both senior management communication and the implementation of practical tools to empower employees and contractors. Our aim is for these elements to work together to create an employee commitment to safety-related behavioural changes. By adding a personal and emotional element and encouraging open communication across the Company, we aim to create a sense of safety “ownership” that will help improve operational practices related to health and safety. In 2019, we introduced a new element of the program called Visible Felt Leadership, which focuses on safety-related field interactions between Centerra’s senior and line management personnel and employees.
One essential component of the program is “STOP Conversations,” which encourages all employees and contractors to speak up if they see someone exhibiting unsafe work practices. We also provide employees with the opportunity to submit health and safety concerns anonymously – without any threat or fear of retribution.
In late 2020, we launched a virtual introduction of our WS|HS Program as part of our onboarding package. This orientation program must be complete prior to arriving on site and will serve as an introduction to Centerra’s values and cultures.
Our commitment to health and safety also extends to all contractors. We ensure that each contractor receives initial safety orientation as well as continuing safety training and education throughout their engagement with Centerra. Contractors are also subject to a pre-project selection process that includes robust health and safety criteria, including consideration of earlier health and safety performance. While on any Centerra site, each contractor group is assigned a site-based Centerra “owner” who is directly responsible and accountable for the H&S performance of their respective contractor groups.
Total Occupational Health and Safety Training Hours1
1 In 2016, Centerra acquired Thompson Creek Metals, and in 2018 Centerra finalized the acquisition of AuRico Metals.
Emergency Preparedness
To ensure our teams have the tools, skills and resources needed to address an emergency, each site has proactive emergency response plans and highly skilled, rigorously trained emergency response teams in place.
The emergency response teams at all Centerra sites receive regular training on emergency prevention, including on dealing with high-hazard priority incidents such as cyanide and chemical spills and dispersal, high-angle rescues, vehicle extrications, and fires. Along with training, sites conduct periodic drills and mock exercises to ensure that teams understand proper procedures and to identify areas for improvement. Centerra’s highly skilled emergency response teams (ERTs) at Mount Milligan compete in annual district and regional mine rescue competitions, which provide excellent opportunities for building team spirit as well as continually testing and improving emergency response skills.
Throughout 2021, Öksüt’s ERTs held their emergency response training at the Kayseri Fire Department, where emergency drills were conducted.
Protecting Employee and Community Health and Safety
We recognize that the presence of a mining project may contribute to an influx of migration into our local communities. This, in turn, can play a role in increasing safety and health–related issues, including communicable and non-communicable diseases and other medical conditions. To protect our employees and communities, we take proactive measures to raise awareness and promote good hygiene and wellbeing practices.
We conduct health screenings for employees and contractors before they are hired and then on a periodic basis throughout their employment or contract. Each year, we also invest in preventative health programs, which may include voluntary flu vaccinations, inter-site fitness challenges and ad hoc guest speakers.
In collaboration with Erciyes University and Turkish Kızılay, Öksüt in 2021 completed a home safety and first aid awareness training program that targeted 4,000 local women, children and employees. The training materials identified the most common dangers and accidents that may occur at home and detailed preventative measures that families should implement.
Mental Health
We recognize the importance of creating a supportive work environment and understand how mental health contributes to our employees’ safety. As part of our commitment to our employees, we continuously assess how we can better support them during stressful and difficult times.
Centerra is committed to building a strong “People First” culture at all our sites. One of the ways we demonstrated this commitment in 2021 was by focusing on the mental health and wellbeing of our employees.
In British Columbia, during Mental Illness Awareness Week in October 2021, we focused on raising awareness and distributing informational resources to help end the stigma associated with mental health. In addition, throughout 2021, we implemented Clinical Counselling Services to provide immediate and readily available face-to-face mental health support to our employees.
Staff at Öksüt spent 2021 building out a robust alcohol and addictions awareness program to support employees and their families in both the Develi and Kayseri regions. The team in Türkiye worked with the Develi Municipality and the Green Crescent organization to find ways to support their “Good and Healthy Generations” goal.