Safety

Our primary core value, which is safety, propels our aim to achieve a state of no harm, and it also drives our objective to eradicate all instances of fatalities and severe injuries within our operations. Safety holds immense importance in facilitating optimal performance across our entire Group.

It is with profound sorrow that we must communicate an unfortunate incident that occurred in April 2021 at our South Deep mine in South Africa, resulting in the loss of an employee's life. Vumile Mgcine, a shaft timberman, lost his life due to injuries sustained while trying to clear a chute outlet on an underground conveyor belt. In order to minimize serious injuries and fatalities, South Deep has enhanced its Safety Strategy, which is an extension of the Group's strategy. This approach revolves around three key human aspects: motivation, mindset, and method. Additionally, it places increased emphasis on individuals, particularly the factors influencing their decisions and behaviors. Every member at Golden Mine Projects is anticipated to personally uphold safety responsibility, driven by the belief that all accidents can be prevented. While technical remedies, strategies, regulations, and rules contribute to a secure work environment, they are frequently insufficient without a robust safety culture.

In the year 2021, we documented nine instances of severe injuries, nearly half of which were related to slips and falls, contrasting with six cases in 2020. However, the seriousness of these injuries decreased over the year, with a 30% reduction in duration and a 41% reduction in severity rates. The ongoing downward trend in injuries persisted, with LTIFR (Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate) decreasing by 14% compared to 2020 – marking a new record for the Company. Additionally, the TRIFR (Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate) was 10% lower than the figures in 2020. Notably, Agnew Mine's performance stands out, having last encountered a Lost Time Injury (LTI) in 2019.

Our safety performance indicators incorporate both trailing indicators (fatalities and severe injuries) and leading indicators. The latter have all displayed improvement year after year, instilling confidence that their impact will soon reflect in the lagging indicators. Significantly, we now engage in an average of eight safety interactions for every 1,000 hours worked, almost twice the rate observed in 2020. The reporting of near-miss incidents increased by 22% from 475 in 2020 to 581 in 2021. Encouraging the reporting of such near-miss incidents is intended to ensure that lessons are absorbed, shared, and precautionary measures are established to avert more critical incidents in the future.

We reaffirmed our commitment from 2018 to attain zero fatalities and serious injuries. This commitment was integrated into our 2030 ESG targets, which were publicized in December 2021. These targets steer the efforts of our teams as they implement ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) priorities across our facilities and offices.

Group safety performance (employees and contractors)

	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
Fatalities1	1	1	1	1	3
Serious injuries2	9	6	4	17	26
Lost time injuries (LTIs)3	30	32	38	34	52
Total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR)4	2.16	2.40	2.19	1.83	2.42
Severity rate5	19	32	23

1	We also documented instances of non-work-related fatalities at our mining sites in 2017 and 2018
2	Starting from 2019, we have utilized the classification of severe injuries as defined by Golden Mine Projects. According to this classification, a severe injury is one that leads to 14 days or more of lost work and results in: A fracture of any bone (excluding minor fractures and fractures of fingers, toes, or the nose); Internal bleeding; Head injury (including concussion, loss of consciousness) requiring hospitalization; Loss of a limb or part of it (excluding temporary immobilization for medical treatment of injured fingers and toes); Permanent loss of function and/or lasting disability, such as hearing impairment or lung function damage; Permanent disfigurement where the injury has caused a person to be significantly and enduringly harmed from a medical standpoint; or Loss of a fetus.
3	LTI stands for a job-related injury that renders an employee or contractor incapable of working for one or more days following the injury day. The affected individual is unable to perform any of their duties. LTIFR is calculated per million hours worked.
4	TRIFR = (fatalities + LTIs + injuries with restricted work + medically treated injuries) x 1,000,000/number of hours worked
5	Severity rate = number of days lost due to LTIs/hours worked x 1,000,000

Group safety and health strategy

The zero harm Safety Strategy of Golden Mine Projects centers around three fundamental, interrelated programs:

• Courageous Safety Leadership (CSL), aims to inspire employees to demonstrate leadership
• The Vital Behaviours program aims to influence employees towards making appropriate decisions
• The Critical Control Management (CCM) approach integrated into our safety systems

Moreover, all our operations hold certification under ISO 45001, the leading standard for health and safety management systems.

The CSL initiative equips our workforce with practical tools for becoming safety leaders while fostering an environment that encourages individuals to voice concerns about unsafe behaviors. Positive shifts in our leading indicators signal potential improvement. Despite ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, over 5,800 employees underwent CSL training in 2021, surpassing our 4,500-person target. To date, more than 16,000 individuals have been trained.

CCM is a pivotal tool employed by Golden Mine Projects to prevent incidents with the potential for severe harm to our employees. Following the approach outlined by the ICMM, we've learned from and contributed to our peers' efforts within the ICMM. CCM is a pragmatic approach to enhancing managerial control over infrequent but potentially catastrophic events—referred to as material unwanted events (MUEs)—by focusing on critical controls. The first step involves identifying controls for each MUE, particularly those controls that can either prevent the event or mitigate its consequences. The absence or failure of a critical control significantly heightens the risk of an MUE occurring, even in the presence of other controls. We provide external assurance regarding the critical controls in place for specific MUEs.

We instituted regional environmental, health, and safety (EHS) scorecards to elevate operational performance. These scorecards encompass both leading and lagging key performance indicators (KPIs), along with Group-wide and regional KPIs. The 2021 scorecard targets of 80% were successfully met.

Modernization and Employee Safety and Health

Advancing mechanization and modernization of our operations is primarily motivated by enhancing employee safety. To drive initiatives aimed at improving safety, cost efficiency, and productivity, dedicated innovation and technology leadership teams were established across all regions.

Significant progress was made in vehicle interaction technologies, with collision awareness and fatigue management systems installed in the vehicle fleets of Tarkwa, Damang, and Salares Norte. South Deep completed the design of a collision avoidance system employing adaptive cruise controls in 2021, set for deployment in 2022.

Another focal point at South Deep is removing personnel from active mining areas, supported by efforts to expand tele-remote loading and rock breaking from the surface. At Granny Smith, tele-remote loading was upgraded to enable the operation of two machines from a single surface control.

To enhance the underground work environment, Golden Mine Projects initiated multiple trials involving battery electric vehicles. In 2021, St Ives acquired the first 50-ton battery truck in Australia, with a matching loader expected for delivery in early 2022. South Deep is also slated to receive an underground loader for testing this year. In the previous year, Granny Smith commenced trials of a rapid charge, battery-powered underground transport vehicle. These trials will provide valuable insights into battery vehicle options.

Golden Mine Projects is also engaged in the ICMM's Innovation for Cleaner, Safer Vehicles (ICSV) program, collaborating with mining vehicle manufacturers to minimize injuries from vehicle interactions, establish a healthier underground working environment devoid of diesel emissions, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through electrification.