Mining major Gold Fields has reiterated its commitment to safety, with the head of the group’s South African operations, Vishnu Pillay, describing safety as the “number one priority” at the company’s latest results presentation.

“We have a simple, unambiguous strategy to manage the South African operations, and that is to focus on safety, which is the principal value and top priority in this organisation. We are quite happy to invest in safety – it is something that we want to do, and not something that is seen as a cost burden. This is a commitment that comes from the board, through to the 
executive and on to the operations. Under no circumstances will we relinquish our responsibilities in this respect, “ he 
said.

Gold Fields CE Nick Holland said that the company did not distinguish between safety and production costs.

“Safety is the key way we mine; everything is geared around that. Safety costs are part and parcel of what we do,” he said.

Pillay commented that the issue of safety was not “a linear projection of the number of deaths and costs”, with a “significant moral issue” to be considered as well.

“The executive team is 
extremely concerned about every fatality that we have. [We] have worked tirelessly to ensure that step changes in safety are made,” he said.

He noted that the cornerstone of Gold Fields’ philosophy regarding safety was: “If we cannot mine safely, we will not mine.”

Pillay said that all the company’s senior management had bought into this philosophy, and that its crews now understood this philosophy better, which had 
resulted in the benefits being seen in its safety performance.

Commenting on the eight 
people who recently lost their lives at Gold Fields operations, Pillay said that the company aspired to have zero fatality and serious 
injury rates. 
It had decided that every crew in its South African operations that suffered a serious injury would be removed, and would be subjected to training for a day or two, to ensure that they understood the consequences of the accident, and the remedial 
action that should be taken going forward.

Pillay noted that it took three days to get a mine running again after a day’s stoppage, so a day’s stoppage effectively meant a four-day stoppage.

The company said it had 
experienced significant safety 
improvements for the quarter 
ended December 31, 2008, compared with figures for the previous 
quarter, with a 72% improvement in the fatal-injury frequency rate, a 29% improvement in the serious-
injury frequency rate, and a 35% improvement in the lost-day 
injury frequency rate.

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