Serious About Safety: Keeping the Lines of Communication Open

Here at Eldorado, we believe that effective communication fosters teamwork and trust. For us, open communications between one another is how we build a healthy, safe and productive workplace. To facilitate engagement, stimulate discussion and encourage the exchange of ideas about health and safety, we have developed the following practices and tools.

Golden Rule #3: Fit For Work

A key component of our Golden Rules safety handbook is ensuring all employees are Fit For Work. 

“Its important that everyone at Eldorado shows up for work in their best physical, mental and emotional state, so they can perform their jobs safely without risk to themselves or other members of the team,” explains Shane Williams, Senior Vice President, Capital Projects and Greece & Quebec Operations.

We encourage our employees to evaluate whether they’re fully capable of performing their job and report to a supervisor if they feel fatigued, weak, distracted, or anxious. We also ask our employees to look out for one another. We encourage and train them to recognize signs of stress or illness in themselves and in co-workers. This includes understanding the signs of being under the influence of alcohol or banned substances.  Eldorado has a zero-tolerance policy towards on-the-job impairment.

“Fit For Work is about fostering a culture of accountability where we all take care of one another,” adds Shane.  “Creating an open environment where everyone is comfortable talking about problems they’re facing really brings these issues out into the open, generating honest discussion that helps improve safety performance.”

Supervision Approach and Labour Card

Complimenting Fit For Work, our Lamaque mine in Quebec recently implemented the Supervision Approach system, developed by the Quebec Mining Association, to improve communication between employees and supervisors for health and safety management and the prevention of harm. 

The Supervision Approach works by clarifying expectations and requirements for every job or task to ensure the work is carried out competently and safely.  At the start of every shift, or before a specific task gets underway, a supervisor meets with an employee to discuss the task at hand and the employee’s fitness for work.  They jointly conduct a safety inspection of the job site, identifying any risks and making sure necessary corrective action has been taken. The supervisor and employee then discuss the plan of action to complete the job and any specific tools or support required. 

After the job has been completed, the employee and the supervisor meet again to review the work and discuss any issues encountered that should be flagged for the next shift.

The supervisor and employee sign off on every step of the work process using a Labour Card, an information, communication and evaluation tool focused on workplace safety.  The Labour Card provides us with a permanent written record of the task, the state of the area, and how the job was executed, which we use to track and investigate tasks to improve their safety and efficiency.

“The Supervision Approach and Labour Card are specifically designed for our Quebec operation, but there are similar systems in place at our mines in Turkey and Greece,” says Shane. “The common denominator of all these systems is the integral role communication plays in identifying risks, preventing injuries and making the workplace safer for everyone.”