Health and safety

The Argyle Diamond Mine is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all employees and visitors. Argyle's safety performance compares favourably against mining industry benchmarks, which has been achieved through application of ongoing programs and policies, and a personal approach to safety.

Argyle seeks to reduce health risks in the workplace through the minimisation of exposure to health hazards, the provision of appropriate medical support and the encouragement of healthy lifestyles.

It is a requirement that all Argyle employees work in accordance with the provisions and guidelines of our Health, Safety and Environment Quality Management System (HSEQMS).

Argyle's HSEQMS ensures that the company records and analyses every health and safety incident and near miss to ensure that contributing factors are identified and appropriate action is taken to prevent re-occurrences of the incident. It also holds the business to account for making sure that health, safety and environmental risks are identified, controlled and monitored in a robust way.

Argyle measures its safety performance in terms of all Injuries, which is a combination of lost time injuries (LTI’s) and medical treatment injuries (MTI’s) - and their correlating frequency rates. A LTI is defined as an occupational injury that renders the person unable to carry out all of his/her normal duties on the next working shift. This results in days away from work or a restriction in work activity. An MTI is defined as an occupational injury that requires medical attention from a qualified person (Registered Nurse or doctor) other than first aid and does not restrict the person returning to work.

Improvements in safety performance are assisted by a series of safety initiatives, including safety leadership skills, workplace awareness and health and well-being projects.

Argyle encourages its employees to be fit and healthy and provides a number of programs and policies to promote well-being.

The main policy is the Fit for Work policy, which requires all employees to take responsibility for coming to work rested, alert and focused on the job.

The major threats to fitness for work are medical issues, alcohol, other drugs, fatigue and stress. Argyle seeks to raise awareness of all of these issues and to adopt processes that will help to mitigate risk.

The Fit for Work policy includes random drug and alcohol testing which applies to all employees and visitors.

Argyle has four emergency response teams at the mine site each with a small group of people trained and skilled in emergency procedures.

Argyle also has a comprehensive business resilience and recovery plan that ensures Argyle is ready to handle any threat to its employees, community, environment or property. Training exercises are regularly carried out to test systems and procedures and prepare personnel in the event of a serious incident.

A fully equipped medical centre is operational at the mine site and a registered nurse is available 24 hours a day.