Mining and metals, Canada Safety management process improvement in engineering

Summary

Working for the Canadian operations of a global mining firm, EEM conducted a safety management audit of engineering project execution and facilitated actions targeting improvement in safety performance.

Approach and Solution

The Operational Engineering department is mandated to develop and execute sustaining capital projects in the mining, product manufacturing and ore delivery parts of the business. The department retains engineering and construction firms to execute their projects in the field. Ensuring high levels of safety performance by these firms during project execution can be challenging. EEM based its audit on the client’s contractor management standard, which covers the entire cycle of contractor management, from prequalification, to onsite engagement, to performance review following final delivery of a built project. Through an extensive series of interviews and field observations, the audit helped to uncover problem areas that led to a series of actions toward process improvement.

Results

We were retained to present our audit findings to a group of 15 key players from the engineering and safety departments at a 2-day workshop convened to map the present and desired future state of the engineering project execution process. Playing our main role as workshop facilitator, we helped the client to generate a new process map, to define the associated tasks and a RACI (Responsibility-Accountability-Consult-Inform) matrix, and to clarify roles among the various players. Workshop participants expressed surprise and satisfaction at the learning outcomes and their intention to use the deliverables as building blocks for improving the project execution process and overall safety performance.