Our people

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Nothing is more important than the health, safety and wellbeing of our people. At South32, we are united by our belief that everyone can go home safe and well, every day.

Our activities of mining, processing, refining and smelting present health and safety hazards which can have significant consequences if not appropriately addressed. Our health and safety approach seeks to identify and reduce the risk of exposure to these hazards and to create a healthy, safe and inclusive workplace for our people.

FY24 AT A GLANCE

No fatalities at our operations and improved our total recordable injury frequency by 14 per cent compared to FY23.
Continued to implement our global, multi-year Safety Improvement Program and strengthen our safety leadership capability.
Improved our significant hazard to significant near miss ratio to 21, indicating improved hazard awareness and a positive reporting culture.
Progressed the development of our new global psychosocial risk framework which aims to standardise the way that we identify, assess, and mitigate psychosocial risks across our business.

PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT

0

fatalities at our operations¹

1.9

lost time injury frequency¹·²

21

significant hazard to significant near miss ratio³

¹ Incidents are included where South32 controls the work location or controls the work activity.
² Frequency rates are per million hours worked.
³ The lower the ratio of significant health and safety hazards relative to significant event near misses, the more reactive we are at identifying physical hazards in the workplace. The higher this ratio the more aware and proactive we are.

See the full data tables in the FY24 Sustainability Databook

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Our employees and contractors that work with us are fundamental to our success and to unlocking the full potential of our business.

Our culture and focus on building a diverse workforce that reflects the communities in which we operate positions us to attract and retain talented people who live our shared values, embrace opportunities, and aim to leave a positive legacy.

Our Approach to People and Culture outlines our commitments and management approach to fostering an engaged, inclusive, and diverse workforce and shaping a positive employee experience.

FY24 AT A GLANCE

Deployed a new discussion series on the role of bystanders in creating safe and respectful workplaces.
Achieved an 85 per cent participation rate in our annual Your Voice employee survey, our highest participation to date.¹
Updated our Group-wide Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) Policy and progressed the priorities in our FY24 I&D plan.
Developed and deployed our new global employee value proposition – the ‘South32 Experience'.

PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT

50%

representation of women on our Lead Team

88.4%

representation of Black People in our South African workforce²

81%

employee engagement score¹·³

¹Given the agreement to sell Illawarra Metallurgical Coal and focus on recovery efforts following Tropical Cyclone Megan at Australia Manganese, employees at these operations did not participate in the FY24 survey. Your Voice employee survey results presented in this report are calculated on re-baselined data to support year-on-year comparison against the same operations in scope.
² Generic term meaning Africans, Coloureds and Indians who are citizens of the Republic of South Africa as defined in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Amendment Act, 2013.
³ Our employee engagement score, as measured in our Your Voice employee survey, improved by one percentage point year-on-year.

See the full data tables in the FY24 Sustainability Databook