This week is International Safety Week at Eldorado Gold. Across our sites, we are hosting talks, competitions and other activities to remind ourselves of the importance of working safely. For us, safety is everyone’s responsibility and it is the only way to operate.
Here’s some of the safety programs we’ve been busy rolling out recently to help strengthen our health and safety culture, and to make sure that everyone returns home safely.
Kişladağ – Hands up for Safety
At our Kişladağ mine in western Turkey, our workforce recently participated in a “Hands Up for Safety” event.
Work on a mine site is often physical and requires interaction with heavy equipment, mechanical parts and chemicals. Nearly all of this work requires hand dexterity.
To highlight the importance of our hands and the many tasks they help us complete throughout the day, our teams at Kişladağ painted their hands in vibrant colours and made handprints on large pieces of paper to show just how many hands work together to operate the mine. Teams also attempted to perform basic tasks with their fingers taped together, such as tying shoelaces and zipping a jacket, to experience just how fundamental hand safety is to nearly every aspect of our lives.
Lamaque – Sigma Mill
Since acquiring the Lamaque project in 2017, our teams on site have been in construction mode, working to get the mine ready for production. One of the larger projects at our Lamaque property is the refurbishment of the historic Sigma Mill. The mill has been out of operation since 2012 and our teams are now working hard to restore key pieces of machinery.
The excitement of constructing a new project can bring energy to a team. However, this fast-paced environment can pose safety risks if proper training has not taken place.
That’s why we rely on professionals like Brigitte Bedard, our Mill Health & Safety Coordinator, to provide comprehensive training on risks and safety procedures to all teams refurbishing the Sigma Mill. Safety is everyone’s responsibility, so as younger employees and contractors join the team, more experienced team members show them how to minimize risks to themselves and others.
Greece – Training our Mine Engineers to be safety leaders
Eldorado’s mining engineers are responsible for solving the technical and logistical challenges associated with accessing and extracting gold and other metals we seek to produce. To provide our mining engineers with the tools to work safe, we have developed a Mining Engineer Professional Development Pilot Program for our teams at the Kassandra Mines in Halkidiki.
Through this program, our engineers work with and learn from our safety departments. They are trained in Health & Safety practices and procedures, and are able to bring this knowledge back to their teams working on the front lines of a mine’s development or operation.
This program also provides a source of knowledge and insight for our Health & Safety Departments, as safety professionals are able to learn from the practical experience of our engineers and translate this knowledge into improved procedures for our workers.
We are excited to expand this program further at the Kassandra Mines throughout 2018.