The following is an excerpt from The Miner, a quarterly magazine highlighting the work happening at the company’s North America mining operations and processing facilities. Read the full Q&A in the latest edition.
The 2023 road map for the Freeport Americas is set, and not surprisingly, the journey picks up right where 2022 ended – with an all-in commitment to safety.
In fact, the single strategic objective communicated to leadership is to stay focused on achieving the company’s safe production plans. Unlike last year, when safety was incorporated into the organization’s strategic themes, safety has been pulled out and placed above all other work.
Of course, there is important work happening all around the company – all of which is designed to support the company’s safe production plans. Those supporting pillars for this year include maintenance and reliability, Leach to the Last Drop, development of frontline employees and supervisors, and attracting, hiring and retaining to meet needs of the plan.
As we complete the first quarter of 2023, Josh Olmsted, President and Chief Operating Officer-Americas, discussed the relationship between the supporting pillars and the uncompromising focus on safety, reflected on the improved safety performance toward the end of 2022, and offered insight into his own career journey.
With safety incidents on the rise in 2022, company leadership asked employees at every level of the organization to take a step back from their jobs, eliminate distractions and focus on the fundamentals of safe production. How do you believe employees responded?
I think it’s been heard, but there’s still a lot of work to do. We’ve been talking about it, the sites have been focused on it, we’ve been working on it. We’re seeing an impact. As operators, we own safety. That’s just the way it is. When we step back and look at the data our safety team provided, we ask ourselves if we are prioritizing safety in actions in our day-to-day work. We always talk about the calendar test. If you look at your calendar, how much time do you have allotted to where you’re really dedicated to supporting folks in the field? It’s a never-ending job, and we can’t relax and be satisfied.
In your experience in the company and the industry, what common themes do you see in organizations that are successful in their safety performance?
When there is clarity and alignment around expectations with respect to safety – both behaviors and production – within their job responsibilities is where it all starts. Ownership, commitment and personal responsibility toward safety, and that of their co-workers is key. And then holding ourselves accountable to those expectations is what makes it live and be successful. If you think about the strongest safety organizations, they’re also typically the most efficient and productive organizations as well.
Read the full Q&A with Olmsted and other features in the current edition of The Miner.