5 GOLDER IN ACTION // HEALTH & SAFETY

Today, however, there’s another reason: our clients demand it. As clients see more and more health and safety related requirements placed on their operations, they look to us for help in meeting them.

The company’s Global Management Team has endorsed the goal of becoming an industry leader in the field of Health & Safety by 2010, and significant resources are being targeted to the task.

Among many other activities, we are increasing the number of audited and OHSAS certified offices, delivering construction related safety courses and developing and testing crisis plans in all offices. Our goal is, quite simply, to provide a system, which with awareness will lead to zero serious incidents involving our people.

HEALTH & SAFETY ACTIVITIES

In November 2007, the company named Rob Fraser as our first-ever Vice-President of Health, Safety and the Environment. A subcommittee of the Board’s Risk Committee was established to focus on health, safety and environment issues and to raise the profile of these issues within the company.

This profile is being boosted by the growing involvement of management and leadership, and the integration of health and safety issues into new staff hiring, performance reviews and training curriculums.

As of 2008, each office has a Health & Safety coordinator, many of whom are trained volunteers. The company has also increased the number of staff who are trained professionals in Health & Safety. This stepped up commitment is also be evident on project sites, where managers have committed to more frequent site visits to assess Health & Safety performance while checking progress on site.

The now complete rollout of GoldNet has focused attention on key health and safety issues and given leadership a new tool to collect data globally and monitor progress. A Hazard and Incident Reporting database was launched in June 2008, covering both incidents (and near-misses) and hazards. There have been close to 6,000 reports of incidents or hazards since then.

Picture 1: Entering confined spaces to conduct a survey of existing bedrock and masonry tunnels.
Picture 2: Inspecting the structural steel members of a bridge.
Picture 3: Electrofishing for seasonal baseline assessments.
Picture 4: Detailed road bridge condition survey.

All of these initiatives, and others currently in development, have the goal of improving the health and safety of Golder’s people. Objective data indicate considerable progress toward this goal. Audit scores are improving; and in 2007, the company’s Total Recordable Case Rate (TRCR – covering incidents requiring more than basic first aid) was 1.4%. For 2008, the goal was set to be below 1.0. As the chart on page 4 shows, TRCR improved steadily during 2008 and ultimately checked in at a goal-beating rate of 0.9.

For 2009, the company will look to consolidate these gains and make continued progress toward the goal of industry leadership by 2010.