IGO has recorded a 13.2 total reportable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) for the 2021 financial year, down from 16.9 the year before.
The 22 per cent decrease in TRIFR comes as the mining company places increased emphasis on the safety and wellbeing of its employees.
IGO’s high potential incidents (HPI) also dropped from 24 in the 2020 financial year to 11 in the year just gone, while its serious potential incidents (SPI) reduced from two to one.
To improve the safety of its operations, IGO engaged an independent Australian consultancy in the 2021 financial year, crafting a robust safety and wellbeing strategy in the process.
This was particularly evident at its Nova operation in Western Australia where the company conducted employee investigations, interviewing 75 employees to gain a better understanding of their current safety mechanisms.
“IGO’s safety steering committee, which is comprised of representatives of IGO’s executive leadership team, our operations general managers, and our senior safety professionals, continued to focus efforts on the development and execution of the organisation’s safety improvement plan,” IGO stated in its 2021 Sustainability Report.
“Building on the program of work conducted with an independent consultant and on our existing safety programs of work, we further refined our strategy and plans in four key areas.”
IGO’s key touchpoints for improvement were leadership, management systems, safety critical risks and organisational learning.
The use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) had resulted in a number of HPIs during the 2021 financial year, so IGO chose to suspend all ATV activities in October 2020.
IGO’s exploration team conducted an extensive review of its ATV practices to achieve an improvement in the company’s safety performance.