As Freeport Americas operations continue to strive for safe production performance, it’s always encouraging to see a long-running safety streak extended by another year.
Three teams at Safford operations are among the latest to achieve impressive safety milestones in 2023. In early October, Safford’s hydromet electrical team completed 10 years with no reportable incidents.
Safford operations’ Hydromet facility comprises a large portion of the area frequented by the site’s busy Hydromet electrical team, which recently completed 10 years with no reportable injuries.Those years comprised an estimated 730,080 work hours – among all team members – spent around the SX/EW, acid plant, leaching, Morenci sulfur transload, security and water system facilities. Although the employees are exposed to potential hazards such as high-voltage, gases, high-pressure steam and sulfuric acid within those environments, their commitment to safe behaviors and best practices has helped them sustain their safety success.
“Our crews are consistent in doing quality risk assessments, staying on top of housekeeping, using proper tools and equipment, following SOPs and communicating effectively among themselves as they work,” said Chad Lee, Senior Supervisor-Electrical Maintenance.
Six employees have been on the team during that entire 10 years, and seven have two years or less with the group. Despite that mix of experience, the team maintains an ethos of vigilance and patience one might expect from a team of equally seasoned veterans.
“Everyone is good about watching out for each other,” Lee said. “They also do not feel pressured while completing the work they are doing in the field.”
Line crew, electrical team also experience success
More recently, the Safford line crew – the group that maintains power service infrastructure and equipment – completed seven years with no reportable injuries. That happened just after the mine electrical team celebrated a five-year, no-reportable milestone, which it hit during the summer.
Depending on the size of each team, their safety streaks – like that of hydromet electrical – can represent hundreds of thousands of cumulative exposure hours spent around multiple potential hazards all over the site – busy open-pit operations, complex plants and processing facilities, and high-voltage substations and power lines. The results reflect these employees’ steadfast commitment to safety, no matter where their jobs might place them.
“Like all teams with multi-year safety successes, these teams understand and demonstrate that safety is a value to be embraced by each team member on every shift and in every task,” said Vicki Seppala, General Manager-Safford. “This commitment and its result are commendable. Congratulations and thanks to these employees and all our milestone achievers for their outstanding safety culture.”