Integrated health and wellness

We recognise that a physically and psychologically safe workplace is inextricably linked to successfully delivering on our strategy. Integrated health and wellness builds resilient employees and host communities by enhancing quality of life, boosting morale, improving productivity and ensuring safety.

Key achievements

Held awareness campaigns and initiatives to address health risks

Implemented measures to reduce noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL)

Proceeded with government's Central Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) programme at Grootegeluk

Pursuing sustainable growth and impact through...

Our commitment

To ensure the health and wellness of our employees and host communities, contributing to the sustainability of our business and industry

Monitoring and measuring our performance

KPIs:

• OHIFR reported
• People who received HIV/Aids awareness training
• Employees who received awareness training and voluntarily tested for HIV/Aids
• HIV/Aids prevalence rate compared to country prevalence rate

Delivering on our strategic objectives

Exxaro's integrated health and wellness strategy supports the objectives of our Sustainable Growth and Impact and Social Impact strategies.

Empower people to create impact

Going beyond compliance

We adopt a preventive approach to intervention and awareness of hearing loss. We begin intervention from a 2.5% loss of hearing shift to prevent further deterioration, whereas the DMRE requires intervention from a 3.2% loss of hearing shift. We also monitor dermatitis, asbestosis and work-related limb disorders.

We host awareness campaigns and implement initiatives and policies to prevent, diagnose and manage health risks.

Stakeholder collaboration and engagement

Employees

To prevent, diagnose and manage occupational and non-occupational health risks

Minerals Council

To share information through regular meetings and training for occupational health professionals; to track performance on the council's health and hygiene dashboard; to collaborate in initiatives for noise and dust management

National and provincial DoHs

To collaborate with the Limpopo DoH through an MoU to assess pharmaceutical resources and laboratory services needed for managing tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, including TB screening and regular tests; to collaborate with the Mpumalanga DoH on TB campaigns and the national DoH on the CCMDD programme

Future focus

Our future focus areas include:

• Advancing the electronic occupational health and hygiene management system and archive to enhance the link between health and hygiene and improve the storage of medical and hygiene records
• Additional specialised human resources
• Implementing health and wellness wearables at Belfast to track real-time employee vitals including oxygen saturation, blood pressure and heart rate
• Implementing continuous heat stress monitoring to actively manage exposure to heat for employees working outside

Our approach

Preventive, holistic and employee-driven health and wellness underpins our approach. Guided by our integrated health and wellness strategy, we identify occupational and non‑occupational health risks and their causes, and aim to mitigate health risks and their impacts on our business. Our strategy enables us to create an empowering environment for our employees through our employee wellness programme (EWP) and complementary awareness campaigns, testing drives and initiatives. The strategy aligns with legislated basic conditions of employment.

Integrated health and wellness strategy

Prevent

Preventive programmes (mandatory awareness campaigns and healthy lifestyle coaching) address a range of employee health and wellness challenges.

Diagnose

We improve medical surveillance by extending clinical tests (heart disease and risk-based cancer screening) and DNA analysis from middle management upward.

Manage

We improve healthcare management by ensuring all employees with occupational and non‑occupational health risks are included in a disease management programme.

Our integrated health and wellness strategy is supported by our culture themes

EWP

Covering eight dimensions of employee health and wellness

1

Financial

2

Emotional

3

Social

4

Thinking

5

Occupational

6

Environmental

7

Spiritual

8

Physical

Our EWP offers an external counselling service to address employees' financial, personal and professional challenges and their impacts. The service, introduced in 2021, is managed by our people and performance department. Counselling is mainly in English.

Bayport Financial Services provides debt restructuring, financial rehabilitation and financial management training to employees experiencing financial hardship.

Awareness

• We advertise the EWP on LetsConnect, LCD screens at our operations, screensavers and the intranet
• We send messages via SMS to provide EWP contact details to employees

#You'reNotAlone

Employees' struggles with mental health and the relief offered by counsellors or therapists are shared through voice notes and videos

Certificate of fitness

The EWP is part of induction and physical fitness tests

Mental health*

We introduced a mental health policy in 2023 to give employees access to psychologists, counsellors and social workers. The supporting practices of the policy will be submitted for board approval in 2024. Our approach to mental health is informed by World Health Organization principles. Mental health remained the top category presented to the EWP.

We hold mental health masterclasses on Microsoft Teams to educate employees and present practical self-diagnosis and coping techniques.

*January 2023 to December 2023 by Proactive Health Solutions.

Cennergi employees use the group's employee health and wellness programme and attend sessions arranged for Exxaro BUs.

Our performance

EWP

Campaigns and initiatives

Hosted various cancer awareness campaigns and testing drives targeted at breast and testicular cancer

All BUs

Wrapping trees with pink cloth to show support for those suffering from breast cancer

Matla and Grootegeluk

Providing mammograms and education on men and women's health via the pink truck

Grootegeluk

Participating in the parkrun for breast cancer

Initiatives per operation

All BUs

• Hosted a marathon to raise awareness of lifestyle diseases, with 2 600 people participating across the group
• Implemented a peer influencer programme where influencers spread awareness of NIHL, TB and thermal stress
• Launched onsite therapy
• Provided financial assistance to employees through our financial wellness service provider, Bayport. One of the key highlights was the successful opening of secured accounts, divided between both vehicle and home loans
• Held a cholera masterclass on how to prevent the spread of cholera and the precautionary measures to follow to limit infections
• Held a masterclass on the importance of taking care of mental health

Matla

• Ongoing monitoring of lifestyle diseases at Matla wellness centre
• Initiated a biggest loser campaign on lifestyle management at Matla to encourage and promote an active lifestyle
• Initiated a women's health drive at Matla and implemented health programmes focused on women's health and family planning at Matla

Grootegeluk

• Implemented a thermal stress project at Grootegeluk to monitor thermal stress indices in real time and alert employees when temperatures increase or decrease above or below regulatory standards
• Conducted a wellness outreach programme at Mogol park
• Held an HIV/Aids awareness campaign
• Implemented the Step It Up challenge on LetsConnect, which targeted lifestyle diseases by encouraging employees and contractors to be more active. Smart watches were given to employees and contractors to monitor their sleep patterns, number of daily steps and heart rate

Cennergi held medical screening (including blood pressure, blood sugar and HIV screening) and financial wellness interventions to improve the health and wellness of its operations team in 2023.

Occupational and non-occupational diseases

Occupational diseases (reported number of cases)

Occupational diseases

Occupational diseases contracted at work are categorised as communicable and non‑communicable. Communicable diseases, including occupational TB, hepatitis B and influenza, are contagious and generally caused by bacteria, viruses or other pathogens.

Non-communicable diseases, including NIHL, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, COAD and occupational asthma, are not contagious.

Occupational diseases remained at 23^RA (2022: 23). One occupational disease case (TB) (demonstrably work related) was accepted by the Medical Bureau for Occupational Diseases for compensation (2022: five). The OHIFR was 0.15^RA (below target of 0.18) (2022: 0.16).

We measure our performance against mining industry targets set in 2014. 2023 was the last year we measured our performance against these milestone measurements, as new milestones will be communicated in 2024.

NIHL

Target: No employee's standard threshold shift will exceed 25dB from the baseline when averaged at 2 000Hz, 3 000Hz and 4 000Hz in one or both ears.

We continued our hearing conservation programme to reduce the number of NIHL cases recorded. We implemented the following measures:

• Autonomous drills at Grootegeluk to reduce drill operators' noise exposure
• Installed digital noise sensors to monitor real-time noise levels at Belfast as part of a continuous real-time monitoring initiative with the Minerals Council Mining Industry Occupational Safety and Health Noise Learning Hub. The digital noise sensors are in the process of being linked with the supervisory control and data acquisition system in the control room
• Customised hearing protection rolled out to identified engineering and plant employees at Belfast and Grootegeluk, with engineers on site to mould and check hearing protection to ensure effectiveness
• Study conducted across BUs to identify NIHL mitigation measures, with improvements to equipment that emits the most noise prioritised
• Increased frequency of checks and tests to ensure protection and controls are effective

We provide noise and hearing induction to all Exxaro employees (permanent and contractor).

Silicosis

We have not recorded silicosis cases since 2019 due to dust control measures that reduce exposure.

Read about these measures and dust fallout on Air quality management.

Pneumoconiosis

Pneumoconiosis cases have decreased since 2014 due to investigations and actions taken when over-exposures are identified. This includes reviews of ventilation and dust suppression systems, and ensuring regular equipment maintenance (checking door seals and functioning of air-conditioners). Matla adopted two Minerals Council Mining Occupational Safety and Health leading practices in 2022, namely the conveyor belt dust fogger system and the real-time dust monitoring system underground.

Non-occupational diseases

We categorise non-occupational (lifestyle) diseases as communicable and non-communicable. Communicable lifestyle diseases include cholera, malaria, typhoid, influenza and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/Aids. Non-communicable lifestyle diseases mainly include diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular ailments.

We provide preventive treatment to employees and contractors to manage global health issues, such as malaria, in affected areas.

We identified 93 new diabetes cases (2022: 24) and 334 hypertensive employees and contractors (2022: 92).

HIV/Aids and TB

Case study

Partnering with government to improve access to chronic medication

Exxaro's Grootegeluk clinic is an accredited external medication pick-up point as part of government's CCMDD programme. Operating under the dablapmeds brand ("dablap" is a colloquial term for shortcut), the CCMDD programme is among the milestones on South Africa's journey towards National Health Insurance. Government intends to buy services from public and private healthcare providers to ensure that every citizen has access to free healthcare when needed.

The National DoH inspected and accredited the Grootegeluk clinic as a pick-up point in December 2019 and provided necessary training in January 2020. Following delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme proceeded at Grootegeluk in 2023, with the first delivery of medication in June. Our employees collect their chronic medication from the clinic, reducing transport costs and allowing employees to receive two to three months' medication at a time.