Health

Facilities

• The SRL mine site has a fully staffed and equipped hospital which is funded by the company and provide free healthcare for employees and their dependents.
• In 2006, we implemented a world class Health & Safety Management System. This year, the Health & Safety personnel will implement a comprehensive series of training programs on Accident/Incident Investigation, Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment. The new system helped us to achieve a 94.4% improvement in Long Term Injury rates in 2006 (from 6.46 to 0.36).
• We recorded no work related fatality in 2006. While the number of LTI’s was significantly lower than the previous year, we remain committed to ensuring that Health & Safety is central to the way we manage our business.

HIV/Aids

We have developed a series of programmes that address prevention of HIV/AIDS. We have formed partnerships with local NGOs, the Mine Workers Union and the National AIDS Secretariat of Sierra Leone to create awareness of HIV/AIDS among the workforce and mining community. Our health personnel are being trained to conduct voluntary testing, counselling and to administer antiretroviral drugs.