In the dynamic environment of a mine site, mentoring goes beyond a transfer of skills. It’s key to building trusted relationships and sharing knowledge among peers to enhance safety skills and achieve operational success.
“When experienced employees take the time to mentor newer workers, they're not just passing down skills,” said Sarah Stacy, Manager-Health and Safety Learning Frameworks. “They're reinforcing the idea that looking out for one another is a responsibility we all share, and that’s how we establish solid foundations.”
This shared responsibility for safety is a cornerstone of the company’s commitment to safe production and what makes mentoring so powerful.
“Mentoring allows employees to create meaningful relationships and collaborate on best practices outside traditional training environments. This helps reinforce positive safety behaviors and fosters a supportive workplace that encourages continuous learning and teamwork through shared experiences,” said Anna Laija, Director-Safety and Health Learning and Development.
The value Freeport places on enhancing safety through mentoring can be seen across the company’s operations. In Miami, the Health and Safety team runs the Miami 30 program, which helps new supervisors learn best practices for managing safety programs. This includes how to better manage safety hazards and pass that knowledge to others. Similar programs are implemented at other sites.
Another recent example is the new lineout standard work process introduced last year. As part of the company’s focus on being the Best at the Basics, Health and Safety professionals and leaders help coach on best practices for lineout meetings, including effective methods to communicate department goals, schedules, performance and skills. A newly created video resource highlights key aspects of a good lineout.
Looking ahead, the Health and Safety University (HSU) is expanding its offerings with specialized onboarding for health and safety professionals. The HSU Bootcamp will include a new mentoring program that provides a hands-on, boots-on-the-ground component. HSU offers technical training and leadership training for company health and safety professionals. The new mentoring program will evaluate team members on their engagement with leaders and frontline employees, assessment of critical controls, identification of fatal risks and more.
The hope is that these types of mentoring programs and other ongoing efforts will enhance safety knowledge and behaviors, helping to close the gap between safety goals and performance.
“If we teach our people what the right thing is, show them how to do it well and give them opportunities to develop their skills, then we've prepared them to send everyone home safe at the end of the day. That’s what it’s really all about,” Stacy said.