Safety & Health

Sentinels of Safety Trophy and Flag – Awarded for 2007 Small Underground Metal category - Cortez Hills Mine.

The Sentinels of Safety award is the oldest established occupational safety award. Herbert Hoover established the award in 1925. The Sentinels of Safety award is co-sponsored by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association.

Safety and SMD – Our families are counting on us…

Our Mission Statement’s foundation is safety. Our safety motto is, “The most important job you have is to go home safe and uninjured at the end of your shift.” Ron Guill penned this phrase at least ten years ago. It resides on every brass board so when the miners head underground, they know we mean it. We provide many tools, both in safety systems and equipment to help everyone work safely. Our safety system is anchored on the belief that our miners must be able to make decisions and correct situations immediately as their shift progresses. We recognize the importance of, and are committed to maintaining a constructive and aggressive program to identify and control hazards to life and property.

High level Risk Assessments are completed for various tasks we encounter on a daily basis. The Risk Assessment defines the tasks, establishes the risks in a well thought out manner, and then establishes procedures required to perform the task safely. The procedures (SOPs) are documented and reviewed with employees.

Work area inspections are completed utilizing the 5-point safety system. Lead miners review everyone’s 5-point cards throughout the work day to ensure employees are working safely. A field level risk assessment is also incorporated into the 5-point safety card to review daily activities.

We hold daily line-out meetings where immediate concerns are discussed. More in-depth weekly “tool box” meetings are conducted with each and every member of the crew to ensure everyone is working safely. Safety must remain at the forefront of everything we do. If it is not safe, we must make it safe.

We perform task analysis and planned observations as well. We believe that we need to do the job safely and correctly every time. We welcome you to observe us day or night, Monday to Friday, or Saturday and Sunday. We work with the same care and high regard to standards anytime.

And if you want to establish your career with us and are not experienced, we do extensive training for each task we complete. If you have the desire to learn, we will teach you what you need to know.

After 25 years without a fatality, we suffered three fatal accidents within an eight month period in late 2007-08. These tragic accidents left family, friends, and co-workers shocked and grieving. They also left us with a deeper resolve to try to prevent further accidents. We know we must do better and we are working to rebuild your confidence in us.

The MSHA Reportable Rate represents the number of MSHA reportable injuries per 200,000 man hours worked. In 2008, our rate was 2.85, indicating that there were 2.85 MSHA reportable injuries per 200,000 man hours worked in the company. The definition of an MSHA reportable injury is very well defined and should be relatively standard between companies.

The Experience Modification Rate is utilized by Workman’s Compensation to determine premiums. In theory, a rate of 1.0 would indicate being on par with other underground mining companies.

We believe safety and efficiency go hand in hand. If you are working safely, it is most likely efficient as well. A select few of our safety accomplishments are listed below.

2007 – Sentinels of Safety Winner for the Small Underground Metal Group at Cortez Hills. Approximately 9,100 feet of drifting was completed while working 64,860 hours.

2008 – The Chukar mine accumulated just over 135,000 hours with no injuries. Over 600,000 tons of ore were mined, 10,500 feet of drifting was completed, and 250,000 tons of backfill were placed during the year.

2008 – SMD mined 200,000 hours with 1 medical reportable injury at the Leeville Project.

We are also proactive in ensuring the health of our workforce. Our experienced professionals are well versed in ventilation, dust, noise, Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) and other health issues that directly affect our workforce.

We have invested heavily in operator cabs by purchasing new equipment with cabs and retrofitting existing equipment with cabs. Cabs help tremendously in reducing noise exposure and can help in reducing exposure to DPM.

SMD has also upgraded virtually of the prime fleet to cleaner burning EPA Tier 2 and 3 engines. Other efforts to reduce DPM have included entire fleet operation on bio-diesel fuels and installation of exhaust diesel particulate filters. We were the first to operate an entire fleet of underground equipment on a B-50 bio-diesel with no extraordinary maintenance issues.

No job is so important that we cannot take care to perform our work in a safe and healthy manner.

Look to the professionals at SMD for safe, efficient production. We look forward to advancing your project in a safe manner.