Safety

OUR APPROACH

Our integrated safety strategy was established to improve our safety performance and rests firmly on our strategic pillars of responsible stewardship and operational excellence. The strategy outlines the actions we take to achieve our goal of zero harm and prevent significant unwanted events at our operations. These include:

Empowering our people through nurturing a culture of proactive safety and continuous improvement

Our safety culture transformation is driven by leadership development and employee engagement, implemented through a multifaceted approach covering systems, people, wellness and asset integrity. This is supported by transparent communication and continuous learning, underpinned by organisational effectiveness initiatives that enhance culture and operational performance.

Adopting industry leading practices and innovating through modernisation

We adhere to mining safety regulations across our operating regions while implementing industry best practices through our visible safety leadership approach. We employ critical control management aligned with ICMM guidelines, use digital monitoring systems, and collaborate with industry partners through the MOSH community-of-practice. This is complemented by comprehensive seismic monitoring and hazard assessment programmes.

Embedded risk management and accountability

Harmony drives safety through proactive risk assessments, employee engagement initiatives and executive-level performance monitoring against safety KPIs.

The table below shows our performance per region for the past five years:

	FY24	FY23	FY22	FY21	FY20
Loss of life (number of people)
Group	7	6	13	11	6
South Africa	7	6	13	11	6
Papua New Guinea	—	—	—	—	—
Australia	—	NA	NA	NA	NA
Loss of life injury frequency rate (per million hours worked)
Group	0.07	0.06	0.13	0.11	0.08
Lost-time injury frequency rate (per million hours worked)
Group	5.531	5.492	5.652	6.18²	6.33²
South Africa	5.79	5.74	5.90	6.46	6.69
Papua New Guinea	0.46	0.34	0.17	—	0.77
Australia	2.75	NA	NA	NA	NA

¹ Independently assured in the period under review (refer to the Assurance report).
² Independently assured in prior periods (refer to www.harmony.co.za/investors/reporting/annual-reports).

Regional performance

South Africa

Our South African operations continued to focus on embedding a proactive safety culture through the Thibakotsi programme, which has achieved 78% implementation. The programme demonstrates our commitment to transforming employee behaviour in effectively responding to and preventing safety risks. Surface operations achieved a significant milestone of 3.6 million loss-of-life-free shifts, while the engineering discipline marked 365 days without loss of life.

Despite these achievements, the region tragically recorded seven fatalities in FY24. We investigate every incident and loss of life to determine causes and contributing factors, integrating lessons learned into our Learning from Incidents process. The LTIFR slightly increased to 5.79 (FY23: 5.74), primarily due to an increase in slip-and-fall incidents. We implemented comprehensive golden controls monitoring, with over 16 million controls monitored cumulatively across operations, averaging 44 000 controls monitored daily.

A significant focus has been placed on digital transformation of safety processes, with 2.3 million line inspections conducted and digitally captured, alongside 110 000 specialist inspections for safety, occupational hygiene and strata control. We also conducted 889 high-risk engineering task verifications and trained 34 000 employees and contractors on safety protocols.

Papua New Guinea

Hidden Valley maintained its exemplary safety record, achieving its eighth consecutive year without loss of life, equating to 4.1 million loss-of-life free shifts. The operation recorded an LTIFR of 0.46, with three lost-time injuries, during FY24. Vehicle operation was identified as the most significant safety risk, followed by fatigue management. Given the frequency of vehicle operation, exposure to this high-risk task is significantly higher than other tasks.

Hidden Valley has implemented sophisticated safety systems, including advanced equipment training simulators and collision avoidance systems. All equipment operating on the mining lease uses state-of-the-art technology to provide detailed information on surrounding traffic. The site has also invested significantly in operator alertness systems fitted to the haul truck fleet, bus fleet, and logistics fleet to detect driver fatigue and distraction.

Hidden Valley continues to address the challenges of having a fly-in, fly-out workforce, with particular emphasis on safety protocols and fatigue management for returning workers. The site management team oversees various interventions including noise curfews in accommodation blocks and dedicated safety department coaching teams to reinforce the importance of personal and team safety.

Australia

At Eva Copper, the focus has been on establishing fit-for-purpose safety management plans for current works and implementing an online safety platform. This forms the first phase of a staged approach to developing a comprehensive health and safety management system. The project recorded five injuries during FY24, including one minor injury, three medical treatment injuries, and one lost time injury, resulting in an LTIFR of 2.75.

Given the remote location of the project, vehicle accident risk is identified as a critical factor, particularly due to limited accommodation facilities on site, requiring employees and contractors to travel to and from the project area. To address this, light vehicles are fitted with fatigue management and monitoring technology, including GPS tracking for speed alerts, to effectively manage safe driving behaviours. Fatigue in drivers is monitored in real time, alerting both the driver and supervisors.

The operation is building strong working relationships with Queensland’s regulator based on honest and open communication and reporting. Additionally, they are establishing relationships with neighbouring mines, including emergency response capability support. Construction accommodation facilities are being progressed as part of site access improvement works, which will help to reduce vehicle trips and associated risks.