Equity safety program results gratifying

Employees at Equity Silver Mines are enjoying an excellent safety record but this wasn’t always the case. In 1981, 14 lost-time injuries were recorded and eight the following year. As a result, management formed a special committee of rank-and-file employees to devise a safety incentive program that would make employees more safety conscious at work and thus reduce accidents. The program was implemented in 1983 and there have only been four lost time accidents since, the last occurring on Aug 21, 1985. Safety achievements are now recognized on a crew basis and incentives have been established which are based on hours and months worked.

Beginning at 100,000 hours, and at every 50,000-hour level thereafter, crews with perfect safety records attend a special dinner hosted by management. They are also presented with a token of appreciation and jackets are very popular. Indeed, Equity believes its employees are “among the best-dressed people in Houston.”

A large crew can usually count on working 50,000 hours in a little over a year. But smaller crews might take two or more years to achieve that goal which is a long time to wait for recognition. So safety vouchers are another feature of the incentive scheme. When a crew has worked safely for 12 months, everybody receives a voucher for each month thereafter as long as the record is maintained. They have a face value of $7 and are accepted as legal tender in more than 50 Houston retail outlets. However, they are not limited to the local area — one enterprising employee managed to cash one while travelling through Nevada, says Equity.

There are 19 separate crews and each one is currently receiving safety vouchers. At present, the whole program costs approximately $35,000 per year which Equity gets back several fold through reduced Workmens Compensation Board assessments. Incidentally, when a crew has a lost-time accident, they lose all their built-up time and have to start from scratch.

The vouchers are printed in batches of 500 and each batch features the picture of a different employee. Last year management held nine safety dinners and six have taken place so far in 1987. The employees pick the date and select the menu along with the gift they will receive.

Equity employees have received several safety awards including British Columbia’s “B” trophy for being the safest large open pit mine in 1984, 1985 and 1986. The John T. Ryan Select Trophy (safest mine in Western Canada) was awarded in 1984 and 1986. At the end of April, Equity employees recorded another milestone: one million hours without a lost-time injury.