(February 23, 2022) Keeping workers safe is what keeps Josh Olmsted up at night.
Olmsted, President and Chief Operating Officer-Americas, said during a recent town hall with company employees that worker safety is always the company’s highest priority – and it is his own too. That means if a job cannot be done safely, it should not be attempted until it can. It also means that workers cannot become distracted or complacent and that they take on the responsibility of looking out for their own safety as well as that of the people around them.
“Safety is the biggest concern that keeps you up at night, how we make sure that all of our people are safe,” Olmsted said. “That’s always the biggest worry in my mind. It’s what drives me to make sure we’re doing all of the things that we can to ensure that we’re working on things that will help us be safer going forward.”
Prioritizing employee safety was a recurring theme of the hour-long February 16 town hall, where Olmsted and Cory Stevens, President-FM Mining Services, were joined by special guests Richard Adkerson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Kathleen Quirk, President and Chief Financial Officer. The town hall, which was live streamed to almost 2,400 employees, can be viewed here:
One question posed to the company executives was what keeps them up at night, and they all cited worker safety as their primary cause of sleepless nights.
Adkerson said the toughest part of his job is when he is notified that someone has been hurt on the job.
Quirk noted that with the company ramping up operations there are many newer employees and outside contractors on site who may not be as familiar with Freeport’s culture of Safe Production. That makes it especially important that all employees be diligent in protecting themselves and others to avoid accidents and injuries.
Olmsted also described the Americas’ 2022 Strategic Themes:
- Unlock and deliver our full operating potential
- Advance growth opportunities to secure our future
- Doing things right – safely, responsibly, respectfully and sustainably
- Unlock the full potential in our people
- Supercharge our business through digital – “Right information at the right time in the right persons’ hands to make the right decision.”
“It’s doing things right, it’s doing them safely, responsibly, reliably, ethically and sustainably over time,” Olmsted said. “It’s really a mindset around how can we do things and thinking differently about attacking issues and attacking problems and bringing that stuff to bear so we can innovate and improve on what’s already a strong foundation that we have today.”
On other topics, Adkerson and Quirk said the company is well positioned for long-term success. Demand for copper is expected to remain strong as the world moves to cleaner energy sources and electric transportation. The company has a diverse portfolio of copper-rich mines that will allow it to grow through expansion of existing assets and new innovations like more efficient leaching processes.
“The world is just getting more electrified, and electricity requires copper. And we’ve got copper,” Adkerson said. “We’ve got tremendous reserves, and we’ve got a great production profile that’s diversified.”
During the question-and-answer session, Olmsted was asked about efforts to recruit and retain employees in a tight labor market.
There are multiple ongoing initiatives to “unlock the full potential of all of our people,” Olmsted said. These efforts include partnering with educational institutions to recruit talented people, giving workers training opportunities to better their skills and assisting them in developing a career path within the company.
It is also important to listen to the insights of front-line workers and a diverse range of ideas because the robust discussion of different approaches is usually what produces the best results, Olmsted said in discussing the organization’s 2022 Strategic Themes.
“The folks in the field doing the job day in and day out have a better idea of how to improve that work than anybody,” Olmsted said, later noting that leadership is constantly seeking opportunities to further develop employees, which ultimately translates to improved results for the company.