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The global mining industry has built an impressive culture around physical safety – it’s undoubtably the sector’s top priority. Responsible companies have spent a huge amount of time, effort and capital to cultivate this and to implement processes, structures and tools that support safe working.

The impacts are clear in the downward trend in fatalities and injuries over the past 10-20 years at ICMM member companies, which represent around a third of the global mining and metals industry. Safety is an industry level concern and it’s proven that sustained industry level action can deliver positive results. The expansion of this concept to encompass psychological and cultural safety is essential in tackling pervasive forms of harassment and other forms of discrimination.

To be ‘sustainable’, i.e., maintainable at a certain rate, mining requires a skilled workforce. Although much focus has been placed on the shift towards mechanisation and automation of extraction in recent years, human skill, knowledge and decision making are still central to successful operation.

Without a steady pipeline of talent, miners will find it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to meet future production targets. And with social acceptance and access to capital flagged amongst the industry’s top 10 risks multiple years in a row, it begs the question as to whether the sector is leaving itself open to disruption through insufficient action.

Safety is everyone’s responsibility

While cultural change must begin at the top, embedding it into organisations to ensure true safety is everyone’s responsibility. From colleagues on site who act as allies, calling out unacceptable behaviours when they occur, to membership organisations that champion female employment and stakeholders who continue to hold companies to high social standards, every person has a role to play in eradicating GBV through continued awareness and action.

Visit the Women for Change website to learn more about GBV and and Femicide