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VOL. 07\u00a0 |\u00a0 ISSUE 1\u00a0 |\u00a0 March 2024<\/p>\n
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Sierrita Health and Safety Supervisor Reginaldo Sanchez discusses safety protocols with Health and Safety technician Michael Chico.<\/p>\n
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When injury rates at the company\u2019s North America sites began rising a little more than a year ago, the data made clear who was most at risk of getting hurt on the job: employees who were new to the company, who worked for a supervisor new to management and those in certain frontline jobs. One of those three factors was present in 89 percent of the incidents. All three were present in 21 percent of cases.<\/p>\n
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To help keep people safe, sites are now offering one-on-one mentoring dedicated specifically to safety.<\/p>\n
The programs vary from site to site. Some focus on new hires, others on employees who recently transitioned from the front lines into management. The mentors might be co-workers, more experienced supervisors or specialists from the Health and Safety departments.
All the mentoring initiatives go beyond the standard orientation and classroom training. The intent is to pair the person being mentored with an experienced partner and to spend time in the field learning how to identify workplace hazards and prevent accidents. The end goal is to help ensure safety is not just checking boxes on a form but rather part of the culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where we start building that safety culture,\u201d said Reginaldo Sanchez, Supervisor-Health and Safety at Sierrita. \u201cIt\u2019s building the mindset. It is building that situational awareness in these employees. It breaks people out of their shells and forces them to start looking at all these little details on things that can hurt you, things that can hurt someone else or even kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Initiatives like the mentorship programs that focus on employees most at risk of getting hurt are paying off. Compared to a roughly three-year period that ended in March 2022, safety incidents involving employees with less than three years of experience are down 13 percent, and those involving employees working for supervisors with less than three years of experience have reduced by 25 percent.<\/p>\n
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Senior Health and Safety Supervisor Shannon Del Curto and Mine Operations Supervisor Dusty Merrell watch haul trucks moving toward the pit at Safford.<\/p>\n
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Safford, Miami and Bagdad made the decision to focus on those employees recently promoted to supervisory positions and launched mentoring programs in 2023 for supervisors new to management.<\/p>\n
At Safford, a six-month mentoring program began in September with a class of 18 supervisors who had less than a year in management. These new site leaders are paired one-to-one with more experienced supervisors or Health and Safety professionals who volunteer to serve as mentors. The expectation is pairs will meet in the field a couple times per month to go over things such as identifying workplace hazards, particularly those posing a fatal risk, and evaluating other dangers associated with particular jobs.<\/p>\n
While the program is geared heavily toward safety, it also helps train the new supervisors in leadership skills to set them up for success, said Belen Lawrence, Chief Environmental Scientist-Safford, who helped develop the program. It is part of the broader effort at the site to develop and coach new supervisors and thereby help with retention, she said. It is challenging to move from the front lines into management, particularly taking on the added responsibilities of supervising people you\u2019ve worked side-by-side with for years, Lawrence said. The mentoring helps with that transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s to teach you how to be a leader and focus on those types of social aspects and skills to manage your people,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n
Dusty Merrell, Supervisor-Mine Operations, is one of the those being mentored at Safford. After spending six years in mine operations, he was promoted to supervisor in December 2022. Merrell said the in-person interactions with his mentor, Shannon Del Curto, Senior Supervisor-Health and Safety, have helped him be more effective as he takes on the added responsibility of leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge of becoming a supervisor is taking the responsibility for the lives of your people,\u201d Merrell said. \u201cYou can go to all the classes you want, but nothing teaches you how to deal with those hard one-on-one conversations about \u2018Hey, this is unsafe and needs to stop.\u2019 Shannon and I had a lot of good conversations on those topics.\u201d<\/p>\n
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At Sierrita, the focus is on new employees rather than novice supervisors.<\/p>\n
All new employees are required to pass the Sierrita New Employee Safety Alignment program. The 90-day program pairs the worker with a mentor, and the two are expected to connect daily to discuss safety issues in the field. The message constantly reinforced is that safety is everyone\u2019s responsibility, and if they see what they believe is an unsafe situation, they have the power and obligation to stop work until the job can be assessed and all proper precautions are in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to be selfish about their own safety,\u201d said Reginaldo Sanchez, Supervisor-Health and Safety Supervisor at Sierrita.<\/p>\n
Mentors do not receive any special training but are selected because they\u2019ve been identified as high safety performers, Sanchez said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the daily contacts with their mentors, the new hires have regular check-ins with their own supervisors, health and safety professionals, and an upper-level manager or superintendent. It is the employee\u2019s responsibility to ensure those contacts are made. Participation and successful completion of the program are mandatory.<\/p>\n
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Other sites have taken different approaches to focus on improving safety. Henderson has Senior Supervisors Week. New hires who have completed their mandatory training are then mentored by site senior supervisors who walk them through all mine work areas, pointing out hazards and discussing required safety procedures.<\/p>\n
At Morenci, safety team members have been redirected to spend more time in the field with supervisors \u2013 no matter their experience level. Launched last June in response to the companywide rise in safety incidents, the idea is a \u201cback to basics\u201d approach to evaluate and improve existing safety fundamentals. Safety specialists work in partnership with leaders sitewide to help ensure they meet established standards and expectations for such things as conducting tailgate meetings and workplace safety examinations, said Jacob Sweet, Manager-Health and Safety Manager at Morenci.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is specifically partnering with supervisors to help them get better at things that are very core to our safety system,\u201d Sweet said. \u201cIt\u2019s about being really good about the safety basics. We set clear standards and expectations for fundamentals like tailgate meetings and workplace exams, and the goal is achieving excellence in all these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
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New supervisors also are the focus of Miami 30, a mentorship program launched at the site last year in response to the company\u2019s heightened focus on safety.<\/p>\n
Supervisors with less than three years in management are paired with safety professionals for a minimum of one, 10-hour shift per month for three months \u2013 30 hours total. The time is spent in the field covering topics ranging from risk assessment and industrial hygiene to evacuation routes and communicating in an emergency.<\/p>\n
Safety procedures learned in a classroom can become a checklist rather than part of a culture if they are not reinforced in the workplace, said Louie Barreras, Senior Supervisor-Health and Safety. The purpose of Miami 30 is to help new supervisors apply those lessons to day-to-day activities on the jobsite.<\/p>\n
Marcus Tafoya, Supervisor-Hydromet SX at Miami, who recently completed the program, said the mentoring helped him apply safety concepts like risk assessment techniques to the actual work site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely helps,\u201d Tafoya said. \u201cIt sheds light on areas that you might not have seen in the first place. And the more I know, the more I can pass on to my crew and help educate them. I think it\u2019s a good domino effect starting from the top and getting everybody of the same mindset in that team atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bagdad launched a similar mentorship program modeled after Miami 30 in September. New supervisors also will spend 30 hours of one-on-one field training with a safety mentor over a three-month period. The goal for the voluntary program is to mentor three supervisors per quarter.<\/p>\n
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Miami\u2019s Louie Barreras, Senior Supervisor-Health and Safety, helps reinforce the culture of safety at the smelter.<\/p>\n
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Miami Hydromet SX Supervisor Marcus Tafoya, left, surveys a jobsite with Matthew Herrera, Hydromet SX Operator II.<\/p>\n
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