Proactive HSE update

At Gem, we believe that the anticipation and prevention of risks is critical to keep our employees safe. This approach has proven to be successful in our pursuit of zero harm. In 2017, we applied that same ethos to a wider context by including our natural environment in our Group-wide analysis of health and safety risks. Thus, we began to flag threats to the environment in much the same way as threats to the health and safety of our employees and visitors have been proactively identified in the past.

Initially this shift took the form of an awareness programme, to educate employees about the activities of the HSE Department and the types of environmental threats that they should be cognisant of.

The response to the programme has been overwhelmingly positive, and has taken an unexpected form: as well as flagging possible risks, employees have been acknowledging positive proactive behaviour where they see it, for example in water-conservation practices.

What has been particularly heartening has been the way in which this acknowledgment of positive behaviours has spread to our approach to health and safety. Positive behaviours have been increasingly rewarded instead of negative behaviours being admonished. The number of proactive HSE reports saw a significant increase over the year, from a monthly average of 60 in the first quarter to a monthly average of 120 in the last quarter.

Another indicator which has increased recently has been our near-miss and nonconformity reporting. This indicates a clear commitment to the proactive approach, and a concern amongst employees for the safety of their peers.