OMA member Goldcorp makes safety message personal for employees

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.

 

Ontario Mining Association member Goldcorp has produced a set of four safety videos for all employees that bring the importance of safety on the job closer to home – and the heart.  These videos were filmed at Goldcorp operations in Canada, the United States and Mexico and they are trilingual – English, French and Spanish.

They all emphasize the Goldcorp safety motto – “Safe Enough for Our families” — and they deal with each component of Goldcorp’s program Care, Think, Act.  “We want to instill a cultural change toward safety,” said Melanie Martin, video producer, Senior Executive Assistant and Regional Communications Leader at Goldcorp.  “We want to create a culture where people know they are all part of the same family and that we need to take care of each other.”

The safety message and commitment from senior Goldcorp management comes through loud and clear in the video package.  Steve Reid, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer says “Safety is complex and our ability to grow it should not be underestimated. This is not a television show, it is real Goldcorp people telling real Goldcorp stories.”

George Burns, Senior Vice President Canada and the U.S., who is also an OMA Director, reminds employees about the impact of accidents on themselves and their loved ones.  “Let’s make safe production a deep personal value,” he says. “We want to make our mines safe enough for our families.”

The video package was two years in the making and the project grew rapidly, said Ms Martin.  The four videos and the order in which they were produced are Talking Safety Straight From the Heart, Seven Golden Rules, Let’s Think It Through and Safe Enough for Our Families.

A “bonus” DVD in the package includes an 11-minute Disney film “Safety Smart At Home!” which features Lion King characters Timon and Pumbaa.   Disney is renowned for being extremely particular about licensing and distribution rights.  Goldcorp’s universal safety message must have struck a responsive chord in Disney headquarters to allow Timon and Pumbaa to appear with the Goldcorp logo.

The Seven Golden Rules video summarizes work situations, which have accounted for 70% of the incidents that have occurred at Goldcorp sites over the years.  These golden rules are a Permit to Work, Fit to Work, Energy Isolation, Personal Protective Equipment, Lifting Rigging and Hoisting, Safe Driving and Working at Heights.

Let’s Think It Through provides learning situations and safety discussion opportunities.  Safe Enough for Our Families shows the importance of that vision through the words of Goldcorp employees and their family members.

Perhaps the most compelling of the videos is Talking Safety Straight from the Heart.  In it, Goldcorp personnel and relatives from senior management to the Mother of a fatally injured 20 year old, tell in their own words the impact of accidents on themselves and those they care about.  The video is dedicated to the memory of the men and women of Goldcorp and their families whose lives have been affected by accidents.

So far, the safety DVD package has been distributed to more than 8,000 employees across Canada, the U.S.A., Mexico and South and Central America.  It is provided to all new hires and further distribution to contractors, partners and communities is planned.

Goldcorp has taken a brave, a new and a creative step with the development and distribution of these safety videos for its employees.  No stone can be left unturned in the pursuit of perfection in safety performance.  These videos and how they will be used can help bring Goldcorp closer to its belief that “if we care about each other and if we think about what we are going to do and we act accordingly, we will achieve our vision of making our mines Safe Enough for Our Families.”

Goldcorp is one of the world’s largest gold mining companies.  In 2010, it produced 2.52 million ounces of gold.  It is a Canadian company with corporate offices in Vancouver, which employs about 14,000 people worldwide. The company’s various operations and development projects are located throughout the America’s including the Red Lake Mine, the Musselwhite Mine and Porcupine Gold Mine in Ontario.

Quick Facts

The value of Ontario’s gold production in 2010 was more than $2 billion, the highest value ever recorded.

In 2010, Ontario produced 24% of Canada’s metallic minerals and 19% of Canada’s non-metallic minerals.