Community Health & Safety Management approach

Challenge the practice is addressing: Community Health & Safety Management section provides guidance on how mining companies can prevent, identify, assess and mitigate potential health & safety impacts on communities.

Concrete practice to achieve the expected goal: The guidance provided in this section consists of instructions given for the 1) planning phase: defining scope, reviewing context, assessing community health & safety risks and impacts, 2) development phase: developing a Community Health & Safety Management Plan and providing adequate training to implement, carry out and monitor defined activities, 3) evaluation phase, and finally 4) reporting and adjusting phase. In addition, in the Toolbox there are several concrete tools to help users to plan and implement the management plan; 4C Tool 1 – Sample table of contents for a health impact assessment study report, 4C Tool 2 – Community health & safety areas, 4C Tool 3 – Comparison of health assessment methodologies, 4C Tool 5 – Use of external specialist HIA consultants, 4C Tool 6 – Sample matrix for a community health & safety management and monitoring plan, and 4C Tool 7 – Data sources to support monitoring and evaluation.

Expected impact/goal of the practice: The aim of the practice is to avoid, prevent, identify and mitigate potential adverse human rights and health & safety impacts on local communities during mining activities (also during exploration and closure). Acknowledging company responsibility is an essential factor in building trust with local stakeholders.

Who is the target user group of the practice/intervention or implementing the practice/intervention? Mining companies, particularly the site management team and Social Performance and Safety, Health and Environment teams.