An integrated 4Cs safety framework for the diamond industry of Southern Africa

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The integrated safety framework offers the diamond industry a novel and innovative approach to pioneer safety maturity that embraces four Cs viz. Culture; Competence; Cultivate and Connectedness. This integrated 4Cs approach brings new knowledge around these linkages to drive a maturity journey to inherent and thereby improve safety. The approach differs from previous work as it focuses beyond cultural maturity and embraces proactive hazard identification, systemic analysis and managing leading metrics based on people being the strongest link. Previous approaches generally focussed on culture, reactive accidents and incident investigations and lagging human factors analysis. This Integrated 4Cs Safety Framework was fully introduced in January 2021, amid the COVID 19 pandemic, starting with the onboarding of the leadership and the development of integrated work programmes. There was a high focus on including 100% of the frontline personnel. The scope of the work was nine active diamond mines in Southern Africa in three countries viz. South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. This work brings new knowledge, based on recent developments and industry applications. Five months of data related to identified leading and lagging metrics was collated and trended in 2021. The current performance was compared to the previous period. The safety maturity showed evidence of improvement, including improved competency to identify hazards and respond to risks. Lagging indicators also showed improvements as risks were better understood and more in control. The analysis of High Potential Hazards, a leading indicator, revealed a four-fold improvement in reporting. The results indicated that focussing on the 4Cs of the Integrated Safety Framework does shift the organisation towards brilliant safety performance. A similar approach can be taken by other mines. Further research is underway as new insights are discovered.