Starting 2024 with Safety
Preparing to start the new year off right, rescue teams from Freeport’s operations in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado recently gathered at Safford to participate in a two-day cross-training event where they learned and shared best practices to enhance readiness at their respective sites.
Team members ranged from new hires to seasoned veterans and were put into groups based on years of experience to rotate through stations covering basic skills and rescue simulations.
Using sloped land features and large mobile equipment as scenario props and settings, participants completed drills in high-angle rappelling, injured-patient retrieval and confined-space rescue. Safford’s Mine Rescue Team hosted the event and will evaluate it as a potential model for any future cross-training at Safford or any other sites.
In the photos above (clockwise from top left): Training participants learn about different rope configurations and techniques for rescue. Participants conduct a high-angle rope rescue scenario on the steep slope of a waste rock mound. Trainees observe a confined-space rescue scenario involving an “entrapped operator” in the cab of a junked haul truck chassis turned on its side. A team member rappels down the front of a haul truck. See video highlights from the event here.