Integrated exploration drilling services company Boart Longyear was presented with the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) David Barr Award for its proactive commitment to health and safety, earlier this month.

The David Barr Award is made yearly by the AME BC health and safety committee for excellence in leadership and innovation in mineral exploration health and safety. It is typically given to individuals, but Boart Longyear was singled out as a company for its collective approach to safety.

“We have a safety-first culture and nothing is more important to us, as a company, than to send our drillers home safely,” says Boart Longyear senior VP of global drilling services Alan Sides.

Improving Safety

He notes that Boart Longyear is constantly aiming to improve safety, whether through new technologies or innovative training, adding that it is an honour for the company to be recognised for its efforts.

“To be nominated for the David Barr Award, one needs to demonstrate leadership and innovation excellence in exploration safety, a year-to-year improvement in safety records, as well as efficient and compassionate behaviour when handling an unfortunate accident.”

In the last five years, Sides points out, Boart Longyear has engineered several devices to improve the safety of diamond drilling, including a new safety bypass valve, an all-encompassing guarding system with interlock, a spilt tube loader and a rod lifter.

Sides says Boart Longyear has also developed safety programmes to properly train and report environmental health and safety challenges.

“By issuing all employees with stop-work authority, Boart Longyear has developed a self-empowered workforce that provides transparent accident and incident reporting.

“With two permanent training facilities – one for underground coring and one for surface coring – drillers are properly trained and prepared for the field,” he says.

He emphasises that the company has also elevated the importance of safety with its employees through a programme called Make It Personal.

“All employees are encouraged to carry a photo of family members, a significant other or something that is important to them as a reminder that safety in the workplace is more than just a number,” explains Sides.

Incremental Improvements

He points out that, since 2007, Boart Longyear’s safety performance has been making incremental improvements every year.

“Total case incident rates in 2007 were 3.26, compared with 1.58 in 2012. Lost-time- incident rates were 0.34 in 2007, compared with 0.10 in 2012. “These metrics are considered among the top in the industry. “In fact, US-based multinational financial services corporation Citigroup does a safety spotlight report on a yearly basis, in which Boart Longyear ranked in the top 15% for the lowest lost-time-injury frequency rates in 2012,” illustrates Sides.

He further comments that, over the years, several programmes have been initiated to make these incremental improvements to the safety culture. He notes that ‘safety first’ is one of the company’s core values and that training programmes, safety standards and a global safety management system have also been implemented to bring visibility on a global scale.

“Boart Longyear operates with a safety-and-compliance-first approach for all aspects of our business and has dedicated significant resources to ensure we meet or exceed customer expectations,” concludes Sides.