Construction crews building the new PT Freeport Indonesia smelter in Manyar have logged more than 57 million work hours without a lost-time injury on the job.
With construction of the smelter complex in Manyar being substantially complete, about 100 million hours have been worked, almost all of it by contractors hired to build the facility. The 57 million hours were worked without a lost-time incident. A lost time incident is an accident resulted in a worker having to take time off because of an injury. A recent celebration for site workers commemorated the site passing the 50-million-hour milestone.
“This achievement increasingly reinforces Freeport Indonesia’s optimism as it commences smelter operation in June 2024,” said Venta Agustri, PTFI Deputy Site Manager for the smelter project in a media update. “This success not only reflects our accomplishment in conducting the development, but also serves to establish the highest safety standard at work, inspiring us as we proceed onward.”
The total recordable incident rate, which accounts for all fatalities, lost-time injuries and those requiring medical treatment, also is far lower than the original target rate anticipated for the project. The TRIR is a formula that calculates injury-related incidents against total hours worked and is a standard for tracking safety in the mining industry.
In 2023, the project achieved a TRIR of 0.13, well ahead of the target of 0.34.
“The project’s safety success is the result of our collective efforts and commitment to safety, along with the solid cooperation among all team members,” said Chris McCoy, Project Director. “We have been able to instill a safety culture that didn’t exist in most of the workers prior to stepping foot onto a Freeport project site.”