Luke Messer’s Post

In the wake of the Western Australian Parliament's Enough is Enough report, the mining industry has faced increasing scrutiny over sexual harassment of female fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers. Two years later, Heidi Vella asks: has anything changed? While there are improvements, women like Emma Hitchens, founder of The FIFO Project, agrees more progress is needed. With efforts from companies like BHP and Rio Tinto, the culture is slowly shifting, but covert sexism remains prevalent. Cheryl Yam, co-author of the MARS (Mental Awareness Respect and Safety) report, stresses the importance of addressing both overt and covert harassment to create lasting change. Read in full here: https://lnkd.in/gA5ve3Kc #MiningIndustry #WorkplaceSafety #WomenInMining #EnoughIsEnough #TheFIFOProject #SexualHarassment #MineAustralia #MiningTechnology #GlobalData

Two years on from a landmark inquiry into harassment of female fly in, fly out (FIFO) mine workers, what has changed? Our recent findings from the Mental Awareness, Respect and Safety (MARS) Landmark Study commissioned by the Government of Western Australia has found that while the industry had appeared to make progress on weeding out overt forms of sexual harassment, but covert forms such as sexism and misogyny remained high. “It really needs multiple stakeholders and sometimes years to really start seeing change take hold, but I do believe [in mining]; on the whole, we are moving towards an environment that is more equitable and less tolerant of misogyny and sexism,” said our Research Fellow Dr Cheryl Yam. 👉 Read more here in the Mining Technology article here: https://lnkd.in/gKBTiz2b

Minerals such as cobalt, tantalum and nickel are increasingly important to global economic development. However, the mining industry is often plagued by illegal operations and practices that can impact businesses relying on critical raw materials for their products as well as their end-users. Evidencity's CEO, Samuel Logan, described to Mining Weekly the challenges faced by the DRC, a global leader in cobalt extraction, such as artisanal and small-scale mining, child labour and safety issues. https://lnkd.in/djvsiASV Logan underscored that governments are raising the bar for companies through transparency legislation, making them accountable for combatting human rights-related violations in their supply chains. Evidencity's Modern Slavery product was used for due diligence research on one of the country's largest mines, targeting forced labour, child labour, descent-based forced labour and trafficking of workers. You can read more on the findings of our research here: https://lnkd.in/dKbyauF4 You can explore Evidencity's tech-based solutions and platform today: https://lnkd.in/defGkZU6

#CorporateCrime #Mining #HumanRights #Canada One of the most important global practices in the business of mining natural resources is often building a protection racket against local, national and international opponents of said "development projects." Corporate mobilization from above would include lobbying friendly Government officials, the use of private security services as paramilitary forces physically deployed against frontline opponents, powerful law firms enlisted and an array of bribery tactics all serve to facilitate corporate criming in the name of development in other people's territories and communities. Human rights defenders, community leaders, journalists and environment activists engage in high risk work to challenge the official narrative and often oppose such projects through democratic mobilization of civil society and sympathetic political allies in government. Exposure of corporate criming practices in the mining and energy industries remains largely underreported in mainstream business press. But many more independent journalists and outlets are producing great work and deserve greater public attention.

SafetyCloud, in collaboration with Women In Mining South Africa (WiMSA), hosted the second webinar in our collaborative series, featuring our MD, Chantal Gray, and Compliance Officer HSE Christa Pretorius, among the panel of experts. This time, the discussion focused on ensuring safety and addressing gender-based violence in mining. Key discussion points included: ▹The legal consequences of non-compliance ▹Resources available for victims ▹The impact of GBV on women in mining ▹Strategies for fostering a safe work environment In Chantal’s words: “As this year’s 16 Days campaign theme reminds us, there is #NoExcuse for gender-based violence. Not now. Not ever. GBV and harassment shouldn’t need to result in death to be taken seriously. It is even the little transgressions – the unwanted comments, the threatening behaviour, the ruthless exercise of power in our private and public spaces – that put women at risk every day.” 👉Watch the entire recorded webinar session here: https://lnkd.in/gZD2Ta_y. We extend our thanks to our panelists, Vanessa Doble and Mogaleadi Seabela of Anglo American, and Mbali Nkosi of Webber Wentzel, for their invaluable insights and contributions. Your participation is truly appreciated. #SafetyCulture #MiningSafety #WomenInMining #WorkplaceSafety #EndGBV #16DaysofActivism

A WSJ article on June 10, 2021, noted slow progress by miners in attracting more female workers. For example, in the US, only 14.3% of the mining workforce in 2020 were women, up a mere 0.3% from 2015; this compared to 47% women in the overall workforce. In 2020, more than 27% of BHP's workers were women, an increase of ~10 percentage points from 2015. At June 30, 2023, female representation at BHP was considered to be "on track" at 35.2% and its short-term milestone is greater than 37% in fiscal 2024. BHP has committed to achieve gender balance and is now celebrating being the first mining company in Chile to exceed 40% female presence. BHP states: "As a company we have proven that having a more inclusive and diverse workforce creates more committed, safer, more productive and efficient teams." Congrats to BHP, and let's see more of this! #mining #leadership #diversity

On 2 August 2024, a Guidance Note for the Management of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), Safety and Security challenges for women in the South African mining industry (Guidance Note), under the Mine Health and Safety Act 29 of 1996, was published. This Guidance Note, published in National Women’s Month, is a welcome step in the right direction to ensure the safety and security of women in an overarching male dominated mining work environment. It comes as a result of recommendations set out in a report based on a study conducted in 2013 on the safety of women in the mining sector (refer to Annexure C of the Guidance Note for a summary of the report). The focus areas of the Guidance Note include: accountability, co-ordination and leadership; prevention and rebuilding social cohesion; response, care, support and healing; research and information systems; and the observance of the 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign. Article written by Tanya Calitz from CDH

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗦𝗗𝗗𝗗 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁: 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻-𝘁𝗵𝗲-𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 (𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮) In our recent post, we set out six points for miners to consider as they address increased scrutiny generated by the EU’s CSDDD. Point three was to ‘Get on-the-ground – and listen to stakeholders’. To unpack this further, it is ultimately about carrying out sensitive and proactive, rights-based engagement. Human nature, perceptions and relationships are complex, and some rightsholders will be reluctant to ‘put their head above the parapet’ to make complaints – or will not know to do so. Plus the links between company impacts and rightsholders’ interests are not always clear to local people or to local HR and ComRels managers. This is why engagement needs to be done proactively, using appropriate specialists and with a robust set of controls (including the use of non-company personnel and anonymity) that will give those raising allegations the confidence to speak freely - and without fear of retribution. Read the full article in the comments below. #CSDDD #HRIA #businessandhumanrights #mining

For the International Women’s Day MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in cooperation with LMAC organized a workshop entitled “Empowering Voices, Embrasing Diversity” focusing on highlighting challenges women face in the sector suggesting potential solutions and defining ways to attract more women to the Mine Action Sector. It was refreshing to hear that many women consider the safeguarding policies and practices as an incentive to join the sector. #lebanon #humanitarian #womenempowerment

Yesterday, we fulfilled a promise that I made to you 5 months ago. I acknowledged then that the ICMM commitments on human rights, strong as they are, were not as unequivocal as they needed to be on human rights defenders. Earlier this week, at the UN Forum on Business & Human Rights, my colleague Marcus Addy launched our strengthened commitments in this regard. Recognising the vital role human rights defenders play in promoting and protecting human rights, our updated member commitments include defenders explicitly in companies' due diligence, stakeholder engagement, and security processes. We also launched 3 new tools - as usual, available for free, to all companies - to support companies in respecting #humanrights defenders, integrating human rights across their businesses and to build awareness of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.  If a just #energytransition is our common goal, then respect for human rights must be our shared promise. These commitments and tools are another way we aim to uphold that promise. My heartfelt thanks to Marcus and the entire ICMM team, and to all our members for their genuine commitment and action on this most critical issue. https://lnkd.in/egK-GEvp