Health & Safety
“Our team is very proud of the safety program in effect at the Donlin Gold site camp, which is well advanced for a project at this stage of exploration and development. In addition to having experienced safety coordinators on-site 24/7, we have established a culture of awareness and work as a team to look out for each other. In 2022, we again had zero lost-time incidents (LTIs), continuing our outstanding performance of having worked several million hours over more than a decade without an LTI.”
Dan Graham
General Manager
Donlin Gold LLC
NOVAGOLD is dedicated to the safety, health, and welfare of its employees and families, Donlin Gold LLC’s employees and their families, our contractors and visitors, and the many communities in which we work. NOVAGOLD’s management is devoted to providing leadership in health and safety. All team members take accountability for their personal safety and that of others working alongside them. NOVAGOLD also works with Donlin Gold LLC to maintain a culture that promotes safe work practices through individual and group employee motivation, safety achievement rewards, and safety performance recognition both in the workplace and in our local communities. Our practices reflect the objectives that are codified in NOVAGOLD’s Health and Safety Policy. NOVAGOLD, Donlin Gold LLC, and our partners are committed to providing an environment in which all our people make it home safely every day, and that commitment empowers individuals and communities to work together to ensure a bright future for everyone.
This means:
- Implementing high standards for the protection of employees and contractors
- Promoting safety programs at our worksites and throughout the Y-K region
- Developing the current and future workforce with training and educational activities and programs – available throughout the Y-K region’s communities – that encourage employees and contractors to live a safe and healthy lifestyle beyond the workplace
Donlin Gold LLC continued commendable health and safety performance with a zero LTI frequency rate in 2022. The total recordable incident frequency rate (TRIFR)* in 2022 was 1.42, which met our goal of 1.5 or lower. In 2022, Donlin Gold LLC employees and contractors received a total of 1,082 hours of health, safety, and emergency response training. Overall, Donlin Gold LLC employees and contractors have worked more than 2.9 million hours over more than a decade without a LTI or fatality. NOVAGOLD also had zero LTIs and no other reportable safety incidents among its employees in 2022.
Donlin Gold LLC invests in community safety programs in the Y-K region. For example, in 2022, Donlin Gold sponsored the Alaska Safe Riders project that promotes safe practices in snow machine use, which is an activity most residents of the Y-K region engage in during the winter months.
For 2023, our goals will continue to be zero LTIs and a TRIFR of 1.5 or lower. To accomplish that we will continue to work with Donlin Gold LLC to develop and implement comprehensive health and safety training programs for all Donlin Gold LLC employees and contractors prior to field program start-ups, and we will continuously monitor and report on the effectiveness of these programs.
Donlin Gold Health and Safety Statistics
| 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lost-time incidents (LTIs) or fatalities (goal:0) | None | None | None |
| Total recordable incident frequency rate (goal: <1.5) | 1.42 | 1.16 | 1.20 |
| Hours worked without a lost-time incident | 274,968 | 171,310 | 166,739 |
* Total Recordable Incident Frequency Rate (TRIFR) is defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as an incidence rate of lost-time injuries, fatalities, and medical incidents and is computed using the following formula: (number of injuries and illnesses X 200,000) / employee hours worked = TRIFR. Note: ‘200,000’ represents the number of hours 100 employees work based on 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, and provides the standard base for calculating incidence rate for an entire year.
Applicable Corporate Policies can be found at https://www.novagold.com/company/governance/ including Environmental Policy; Code of Business Conduct and Ethics; Anti-Corruption, Anti-Bribery, Anti-Fraud; Health and Safety; Human Rights Policy; and Social License and Sustainable Development.