As a joint venture owned by Société Minière du Sud Pacifique (51%) and Glencore  (49%), Koniambo Nickel, thanks to a high-grade nickel deposit, forecasts long-term, low-cost operations governed by a very demanding sustainable development policy.

With deep-rooted values and commitment to safety, Koniambo Nickel believes that everything that can be done must be done to control the hazards associated with work activities. In 2011, Koniambo Nickel took a proactive, preventative approach towards health and safety and put OSPAT into operations to detect worker impairment and better monitor fatigue.

“We consider personal health and safety as our first value. It is fundamental that we rigorously apply the best international practices and try to have them extended beyond the premises of our industrial complex. Not only is our objective to preserve the safety of our personnel, but also their families and all New Caledonians. We realised that OSPAT was going to help us establish a positive safety culture.”

Following the implementation of OSPAT, Koniambo Nickel management were able to recognise a pattern of fatigue across a wide range of employees towards the end of their shift cycle.

“Through strong management commitment to health and safety of our people and the application and analysis of OSPAT results we were able to optimise our mine shift planning.  OSPAT results showed us a problem in some particular days of the planning.  Most of our employees were showing signs of fatigue towards the tail end of that cycle. OSPAT illustrated that we had a problem that needed to be addressed  immediately, so performance workshops with shift crews were completed to target a better roster.“ Says Jose Jimenez, Mine Director.

In response, Koniambo Nickel converted their mine roster cycle to a more fatigue-friendly one with excellent results.

“Staff morale has increased considerably – workers are very happy of this new roster. They are now a lot more comfortable in the nature of their work and with their colleagues and positive about their contribution to productivity. Absenteeism has dropped significantly and the system allowed us to reveal employees potential. We have also seen an increase in production since the roster change.”