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De Beers Canada brought the spirit of Global Safety Day to Chicago, Illinois on October 26th in a unique exchange with the renowned Chicago Fire Department.
CEO Kim Truter, Gahcho Kué GM Allan Rodel and Business Improvement Lead Megan Rodel, who is also a member of the Gahcho Kué Emergency Response Team, visited the Chicago Fire Academy where they spent three hours with the department’s Specialist Technical Operations teams. This highly trained division of 200 firefighters comes from the department’s 3,500 members.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity to share the theme and learnings from this year’s Global Safety Day, De Beers reached out to the Chicago Fire Department while in town on other business. The De Beers Canada team made presentations on safe production, the importance of Global Safety Day and the various initiatives across the company in Canada. Global Safety Day is marked annually by all members of Anglo American plc group, and events were held at all De Beers Canada offices and operations, from Yellowknife to Calgary, Toronto and Timmins, as well as at Gahcho Kué, Victor and Snap Lake Mines.
Truter says the visit provided valuable insight into key safety behaviours and training that can be applied at De Beers Canada. “This is an opportunity to partner with a world class organization which has values and goals in safety and incident-response similar to ours,” said Truter “Key takeaways for our team were the focus on realistic scenario training, exposure to daily real-life incidents, investment in equipment and building a culture of strong tradition, pride, achievement and celebration. We also discussed opportunities for mutual learning and even an exchange program for relevant staff members.”
Deputy Fire Commissioner Richard Edgeworth, Assistant Deputy Fire Commissioner Michael Fox, District Chief Timothy Walsh, Battalion Chief Brian McArdle and Director of Research and Planning Lonnie Jenkins from the Chicago Fire Department discussed how similar each organization was in their approach to safety even though both organizations were so different. Emphasis on employee safety is paramount and partnerships with surrounding agencies are key.
Conducting “live exercises” with all employees is a must. Also discussed was the topic of the history and tradition of an organization and the important role it plays in the ethos of an organization. Every new employee must be mentored and taught the history and tradition. “Pride” is born out of one’s history and tradition.
After the meeting with De Beers Canada one chief stated, “Your company is very proactive on the topic of employee safety based on the low employee loss of time from injury statistics. This is something that you should take great pride in. Both our goals at the end of each day are that our employees are safe and go home to their families.”
De Beers Canada was in Chicago to be recognized as a Finalist for the Project Management Institute’s international ‘Project of the Year’ for Gahcho Kué, where it finished in the top three out of an international field of 56 entries. The Gahcho Kue Project is featured on the PMI website at https://www.pmi.org/about/awards/winners/past-award/project-of-the-year/gahcho-kue-project.