Diversified miner Exxaro Resources on Tuesday marked its yearly Sustainability Summit with a three-year fatality-free milestone.

This achievement was highlighted as particularly notable, considering the number of expansion projects completed by the company in the past year, and the considerable increase in manpower that these projects required.

While this milestone was celebrated and commended at the event, speakers emphasised that the company would not become complacent and would strive every day to reach its objective of zero harm.

To enforce this vision, employees were led by the Exxaro executive committee in a Khetha Ukuphepha Zero Harm (Safety) Pledge.

The flagship summit serves as both an educational and celebratory event highlighting the performance of the business within the sustainability functional areas – safety, health, wellness and the environment.

Held under the theme “The Future Now”, the event brought together Exxaro employees and stakeholders from various business units to share insights and chart the way forward for Exxaro’s sustainability.

Sustainability is considered a catalyst for economic profitability.

It was highlighted that one focus area going forward would be mental wellbeing, with this impacting on personal safety, as well as work safety and productivity.

This year’s summit was held for the first time at the company’s new head offices, the conneXXion, based in Centurion. The building itself was designed around sustainability principles and the summit embodied this as well through several measures.

Some of these sustainability measures were reusable bottles replacing plastic bottles; a mobile app replacing paper for conference details and logistics; the event décor being made from recyclable materials; and the availability of vegetarian and vegan options to minimise the environmental impact of meat.

Further, the event limited the amount of waste, and any that was generated was sorted on site at the building’s waste facility, for either recycling or disposal.

Moreover, building up to the summit, Exxaro initiated various environmental awareness activities including a clean-up of the Hennops river behind the conneXXion.