Page 76 Since 1929 mine rescue training has contribute d greatly to the in creased awareness of maintain ing a safe workplace to prevent incidents that lead to loss of life T oday mining workplaces are saf er as companies make workplace health and safety as much prior ity as increasing production is One such company Newmont Goldcorp the world s largest gold mining company with gold mines in T immins Red Lake and other parts of the world strive to cre ate a culture of zero harm and a workplace free of injuries and oc cupational illnesses Newmont Goldcorp has made health and safety a top priority T o create a safe working envi ronment requires the uncompro mising commitment of all of our people to demonstrate leadership in safety By focusing on four key areas Safety Leadership Injury Prevention Fatality Prevention and Health and W ellbeing we believe Newmont Goldcorp can achieve industry leading per formance and a culture of zero harm The followin g principles guide Newmont Goldcorp s health and safety performance Newmont Goldcorp s Safety Jour ney is a companywide program designed to assist individuals teams sites and regions with fully integrating safety into everything we do The Journey is used to help our people identify risks and take the actions necessary to create a safety culture across the globe The Report of the Royal Commis sion on the Health and Safety of W orkers in Mines The Ham Re port was published in 1976 and in troduced the Internal Responsibility System that made all parties in the workplace responsible for detect ing and correcting workplace haz ards in order to prevent injury and illness One of the major recommenda tions of the Ham Commission was the Internal Responsibil ity Sys tem which gave workers the right to refuse work until unsafe condi tions are made safe The internal responsibility system is based on the principle that everyone in the workplace has a role in preventing accidents As a result a work safety conscien tiousness emerged that saw man agement and workers cooperate in identifying workplace dangers and remedying them The Ham report also set the stage for the introduction of the Occu pational Health and Safety Act OHSA on October 1 1979 It has since been augmented with ad ditional regulations including the mandating of joint health and safe ty committees in all Ontario work places of 20 employees or more In 2014 the Ontario Ministry of La bour asked the Chief Prevention Ofcer CPO to undertake a Min ing Health Safety and Prevention Review focusing specifcally on the occupational health and safety needs of the underground mining sector Internal Responsibility System T o achieve a zero harm workplace All injuries are preventable If a task cannot be done safely it will not be done W orking safely is a condition of employment E v e r y o n e i s a c c o u n t a b l e f o r h i s o r h e r o w n s a f e t y a n d t h e safety of those around them Everyone is expected to identify hazards and manage risks Everyone must maintain the necessary skills to work safely There are certain safety practices that if breached may lead to termination of employment By Frank Giorno