Safety and Sustainability
At Newcrest, safety and sustainability are core to how we run our business. Our goal is to ensure that everyone goes home safe and healthy every day, and that communities trust us because of our environmental and social performance.
Safety
We empower our people to be safe, in an environment in which they have the authority and responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others.
We strive to create an environment where everyone can make a difference and share their concerns, insights and learnings with others, no matter where our people are or what they do.
Our Safety Transformation Plan, established in 2015, continues to direct our efforts and deliver results. An ongoing focus on culture, controls and systems is required to continue to improve our safety and health performance.
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Our safety culture is centred around our NewSafe Leadership behavioural program, which drives our understanding of why people do the things they do and how we can all influence the right safety outcomes.
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Our Critical Control Management system provides the review, approval and verification steps for high-risk tasks. This system helps our workforce identify which tasks could cause fatalities or life‑changing injuries and verifies that critical controls are in place before commencing the task.
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Process Safety is aimed at managing chemical and energy hazards through the proper design and operation of our assets. It strives to reduce the risk of the types of events that can cause multiple fatalities.
Our overarching aim remains the elimination of fatalities from our business. We have made excellent progress across our safety objectives during the year and are now seven years free of fatalities. We have responded to a rise in our Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) in FY22 by implementing programs to counter this increase in injuries and reenergising our NewSafe program to empower our people to make the right choices.
Newcrest engaged with KPMG in 2021 to deliver independent research into our workplace across the globe and support the development of a leading practice framework for the prevention of and response to sexual assault and sexual harassment, and this has informed the roadmap we are implementing. Newcrest mobilised a dedicated team, reporting directly to the Executive Committee to implement the 11 recommendations identified by KPMG.
We continue to roll out our Inclusive Leadership program and have accelerated the creation of a psychological safety program. This program will adopt a similar process to NewSafe, with the aim that our entire workforce, including embedded contractors, will be directly involved not only in preventing sexual assault and sexual harassment, but creating a safer workplace where people can bring their whole unique selves to the workplace and Newcrest can flourish with an enriched, diverse and inclusive environment.
Our focus during the COVID-19 pandemic was to protect people’s safety by taking measures to minimise the spread of the virus and respond in co‑operation with the communities in which we operate. Newcrest continues to monitor the situation around the globe, seeking health advice and medical expertise and reviewing and updating programs in response to local conditions.
The health and wellbeing of our people continue to be challenged by not only the global pandemic but a range of stressors that impact people through managing life outside of work. Through our WellnessMatters program Newcrest continues to offer tools, education and support for our people to look after their mental and physical wellbeing. The program in FY22 included monthly webinars on a variety of topics including women’s health, men’s health, lung and heart health, nutrition and wellbeing which were well received by attendees and directed at building a better Newcrest through education, engagement and advice.
Delivering a health-focused educational program to 372 elementary schools through the Kokoda Track Foundation across New Ireland.
Sustainability
Our sustainability approach is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development goals.
We conduct an annual sustainability materiality assessment which guides the topics for substantive disclosure from the view of the stakeholders representing what stakeholders believe to be the most significant impact of the business on the environment, economy and people. Detailed responses to the materiality topics from this assessment will be made available in our FY22 Sustainability Report.
Climate Change
Newcrest has a goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. This goal relates to its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. This year we have developed a pathway to this goal, by transitioning our energy consumption and production portfolio. We will also strive to work across our value chain to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
Newcrest also continued to develop the work plan to assess and validate physical climate change risks as reported in the FY21 Sustainability Report and which included disclosures aligned to Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This involved the validation, review and categorisation of all identified physical risks. Risk mitigation and adaptation measures will be developed and incorporated into our Life of Province Planning (LoPP) process.
Newcrest’s FY21 TCFD disclosure and response to climate change can be found on pages 47 to 60 of the 2021 Sustainability Report.
Social Performance and Human Rights
This year Newcrest undertook a salient human rights issues assessment which considered human rights risks of the most severe impact through our activities. We have developed a three‑year human rights action plan to align our practices with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Our approach to sustainability also includes community agreements, partnerships and investments to foster socio-economic advancement. We are involved in targeted local community programs, ranging from indigenous employment and training, education, health and awareness programs to agribusiness and social housing initiatives.
Cultural Heritage
In FY22 Newcrest‘s strengthened cultural heritage risk management measures were endorsed by the Executive Committee and Directors. These measures include the development of a stand-alone Cultural Heritage Standard and controls on land disturbance activity, the global rollout of enhanced cultural heritage and cultural sensitivity training, and the inclusion of strengthened cultural heritage review provisions in approvals and permitting documentation.
Tailings and Water Management
The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) was released in August 2020 following endorsement by all three co-conveners of the Global Tailings Review, comprising the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM). Newcrest, as a member of the ICMM, intends to continue to participate in the implementation program of the GISTM. Newcrest’s revised Tailings Governance Policy was released in February 2021.
COVID and the Community
Newcrest’s Community Support Fund, launched in April 2020, has collaboratively delivered targeted support to the communities around our operations, to assist them with their preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The vision for the fund was to actively contribute to the management and mitigation of, and recovery from, the impact of COVID-19, considering the evolving needs of our operating jurisdictions as government restrictions relaxed and economies reopened.
Early in FY22 vaccine rollouts were underway globally, and the strategic focus for the Community Support Fund shifted to support vaccine delivery in our host jurisdictions.
Since its inception the Community Support Fund has supported 67 initiatives, ranging from immediate health assistance to livelihood restoration and economic recovery across Papua New Guinea, Australia, Canada (British Columbia), Ecuador and Fiji.
One of the major initiatives during the year was, support for the Kokoda Track Foundation (KTF) to deliver Project Airborne across New Ireland Province, which delivered resources and programs to 372 elementary schools during COVID-19. Training and education on the risks associated with the virus and vaccine awareness were provided for teachers to deliver to students and communities.
In Ecuador, a shortage of syringes was hampering the administration of the vaccine. Through the Community Support Fund, in partnership with Chamber of Mines Ecuador, four million syringes were procured to support the timely rollout of the vaccine.
In Canada, the Community Support Fund team worked closely with the Tahltan Nation and the three local communities surrounding Newcrest’s Red Chris operation throughout the course of the pandemic. Food security and shortages were identified as an issue during lockdowns. In response, food hampers were delivered to impacted households, which alleviated the need for travel, thereby mitigating the risk of the virus entering the communities.
During FY22, Newcrest has also focused on planning activities for a new Newcrest Sustainability Fund to drive strategic social investments in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a A$10 million commitment in FY23 which may include multi-year projects. The budget will be reviewed on an annual basis.
