People

• Employees
• Training and
       organisational
       development
• Health management
• Safety management

PEOPLE

Health Management

Rössing Uranium’s Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Policy stipulates that excellence in HSE management is one of the foundations of the mine’s vision to be a safe, long-term supplier of uranium oxide. To accomplish this, in line with the Policy, a number of actions have been taken to guide all HSE actions.

The Health Management Section focused on two main areas: Occupational health and Wellness.

Occupational health

Radiation

Radiation is the emission or transfer of radiant energy as particles and electromagnetic waves. Some examples of radiation are light, heat, radio waves, and X-rays. Radiation can be detected in different ways: light can be seen, heat can be felt, while radio waves and X-rays can only be detected by instrumentation. The measurement of radiation at Rössing is done by instrumentation.

As a result of the ore mined and processed at Rössing having a uranium content of around 0.03%, most areas of the mine have a radiation level between 0.0002 to 0.0003 millisieverts (mSv) per hour, which is a little above the background level measured in Swakopmund or Arandis. Higher radiation levels are present in areas of the Processing Plant, where the uranium is concentrated.

Effective controls are in place at the Plant to ensure that radiation exposures to employees are kept well below the Rössing standard for occupational radiation exposure. This standard is the effective dose of 20 mSv per year averaged over a defined period of five years, and is the same as the international standard set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Radiation exposure in 2007 continued to be monitored by way of a randomly selected sample of employees from all similar exposure groups, and representing all employees. The average annual radiation doses received by employees were between 1.2 mSv for those working in offices, to 4.7 mSv for workers in Final Product Recovery, where the uranium oxide is finally produced and prepared for transport. For 2007, the occupational exposure limit of 20 mSv per year was not exceeded by any Rössing worker.

Noise

Noise is an integral part of an industry such as mining, where large equipment and machines are constantly in operation. For Rössing, the management of noise is important in the protection of all workers. Noise reduction has been achieved through engineering means; where noise levels remain above the noise standard of 85 dB(A), personal hearing protection is provided.

Throughout the years, various types of hearing protection have been supplied. In further improving hearing protection at Rössing, a personal hearing protector called the Noise Clipper was successfully introduced.

The Noise Clipper is a set of custom made earplugs with filtering devices. It attenuates all frequencies in the hearing spectrum and is more active in high tones. This unique ability enables the user to have communication in a noisy environment while being protected against hearing damage.

During the fourth quarter of 2006, some 100 Noise Clippers were fitted to a test group from different workshops and disciplines. Because the feedback from this group was very positive, a decision was made to extend the use of the Noise Clipper to employees working in other noisy areas. In 2007, a further 368 Noise Clippers were supplied to employees. This means that 468 out of the identified 611 employees who have to work (even for one day) in areas where noise levels are above the 85 dB(A) standard now have personalised hearing protection. The intention is to supply these aids to all the identified employees.

“Improvements in health and safety must come from two directions. From the bottom, all employees need to assume personal accountability for their co-workers as well as themselves. From the top, management needs to lead by example and display visibly felt leadership. Rössing is improving in both of these directions.”

TIM FOX
Manager: Health and Safety

“I’m very proud that the Peer Educator Programme, which I chair, won the Chamber of Mines OHEAP for a second year. Personally, I think we deserve it because I believe our programme is really the best in the country. One of the reasons for our success is the strong teamwork that exists amongst the peer educators. We also have quite a number of projects – inside the mine as well as within the community. We are very active and we also do a lot of counselling. We select our peer educators very carefully: we make sure the person has the right personality and that he or she enjoys working with people. At the moment we are about 55 peer educators, and we plan to appoint several more in 2008.”

ANNIE KEIB
Chairperson, Peer Educators Rössing Uanium

The Rio Tinto Procurement Supply Chain Management (Stores, Logistics, Procurement) celebrated their second year without any safety incidents. Every employee received a First Aid Kit as a token of appreciation. (For the purpose of the photograph, employees removed their hard hats and safety glasses.)

Dust

The processes of mining, transporting, crushing and milling of uranium ore prior to extraction result in dust generation, mainly at the crushers. For control purposes, dust levels are measured at certain dust generation points.

As reported in the 2005 and 2006 Reports to Stakeholders, the dust extraction system at the Fine Crushing Plant is old and in need of replacement. Planning and preparation for the renovation and replacement of this system was carried out in 2007, with approval being obtained for implementation in 2008. The average dust level at generation points at the Fine Crushing Plant for 2007 was 0.92 mg/m3, which is slightly above the target of 0.9 mg/m3, although it shows a reversal in the upward trend of recent years.

Wellness

The Rössing Peer Educator Programme, which was started in 1996, once again received a noteworthy award in 2007 from the Namibian Chamber of Mines Occupational Health Education and Assistance Programme (OHEAP). Rössing was chosen for having the best peer educator programme within OHEAP.

A number of new peer educators joined the programme in 2007. All peer educators attended various training sessions during 2007, including basic and advanced training, basic and advanced counselling training, and HIV counselling training.

The peer educators arranged a very successful Breast Examination and Pap Smear Clinic in collaboration with the Cancer Association of Namibia. This was held at the mine and in Arandis during October 2007 in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Donations were collected and handed over to the Cancer Association.

The HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Programme also showed a significant improvement during 2007, with contractors being included at no cost. Education and awareness resulted in a 20% increase in participation by Rössing employees in the VCT Programme, compared with the previous year.