The safety of everyone who works at Anglo American is our paramount consideration. That is why we continue to think of ways to engage our contractors so that they feel valued, respected and genuinely part of our workforce.
The importance of our contractors
Over the years, as our business has evolved, contractors have become more central to our organisation.
They make up an increasing part of our workforce – and partly because they routinely do more higher-risk work, they are disproportionately over-represented in serious and fatal injury occurrences.
Our Contractor Performance Management (CPM) framework was developed with the aim of ensuring that every person in our workforce is equally valued and that our contractors are fully integrated into our systems and processes, so that we can manage our collective performance better.
The CPM is assisting us in making sure the work undertaken by our contractors is well planned, aligned with our Operating Model, rigorously risk assessed and resourced with the right skills.
Since we launched the CPM framework in 2023, we have seen a sustained uplift in the amount of time we spend in the field conducting safety-related oversight with contractor crews, especially those executing more hazardous work.
Showing the way with TGL
At our nickel business at Barro Alto in Brazil, we have a five-year third-party contract with TGL, an ore- and waste-haulage company.
The contract is considered material: it is worth $100 million and involves over 620 contractors.
Implementation of the CPM process at TGL has equipped our teams to conduct work more safely, and with greater efficiency and consistency.
For example:
- Safety performance metrics have risen from 86% compliance pre-CPM to 100% compliance today and high potential incidents have reduced from an average of three per year over the past three years to one in 2024.
- A substantial improvement in management of reported Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) deviations, and all the high potential hazard occurrences were solved in terms of critical risk.
- Environmental performance metrics have risen from 60% pre-CPM to100% compliance today.
- Operationally, there has been a 4% improvement in utilisation of equipment, with productivity up 5%.
Next steps
Building on the work we did in 2024 to advance implementation of CPM across Anglo American’s global site footprint, the CPM process is being further embedded and deployed as we bring in new contractors.
We plan to roll out the CPM programme further in order to better equip our operational leaders to proactively conduct risk-based planning of all contracted work, and continue to strengthen the delivery of effective safety oversight of our contracted workforce – while providing greater support and benefits to our contractor partners.
