Health, Safety and Environment
Duty of Care is an integral part of KCCL's culture. KCCL has a young healthy workforce and intends to keep it that way.
Health
In order to help improve the health of it's employees, KCCL has outsourced
its onsite medical clinic. The clinic is manned by a Doctor, 2 nursing sisters and
a Lab Technician. The facilities include a life support resuscitation unit, a
small inpatient facility and a laboratory. Malaria remains the biggest threat
and KCCL runs a multi faceted anti malarial program.
KCCL HIV/AIDS Policy - a sucess story!
KCCL is committed to fighting HIV and AIDS, KCCL is been a leader in the rollout of anti retroviral drugs to its
employees and dependants,it runs best practice policies and procedures. There is an active Voluntary Counselling and
Testing campaign with above average percentages of all staff knowing their status and thereby allowing KCCL to manage
the illness effectively. Currently, 80% of all staff have been tested and know their status.
Safety
KCCL has an excellent Health and Safety record. A dedicated effort to change
attitudes, behaviour and implement a modern Safety Management System has paid off. The
site is operating at a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate(LTIFR) of less than 2 and a
Total Recorded Injury Frequency Rate(TRIFR) of less than 10. The plant record run without a Lost Time Injury is 874 days.
KCCL is a recognized leader in the practice of Health And Safety in
Uganda and was recognized by Newmont Mining in 2003 by awarding the "NEWMONT
EXCELLENCE IN SAFETY AWARD"
Environment
One of the main factors in the project approval was the environmental clean up of the existing stock piles. This remains a core focus
of all KCCL activities.
The bio-leach process, used by KCCL, is environmentally friendly, using naturally occurring bacteria in the deposit to convert sulphides into soluble metal products.
The greatest environmental impact of the project has been the arrest of acid water drainage
and metal contamination which was greatly affecting the flora and
fauna in the adjacent Queen Elizabeth National Park. The project is removing
this environmental hazard.
All activities are conducted in accordance with the National Environment Management Authority standards (NEMA) and
Department of Water Resources Management (DWRM). A detail environment management system is
in practice with regular compliance audits by statutory bodies, external
auditors and internal audits.
Land rehabilitation, tree growing and wildlife conservation
A contaminated site assessment which is done annually for the process plant site, helps determine areas that are still contaminated
and require remediation. This also allows recovery of previously contaminated areas to be monitored.
KCCL has been in close collaboration with Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to protect all wildlife that
takes refuge on KCCL lease area by reporting any form of poaching, burning and by capturing and releasing endangered animals.