Boart Longyear receives award for safety

By |  December 14, 2013

Boart Longyear is the recipient of this year’s David Barr Award from the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC).

The company, a provider of drilling services, drilling equipment, and performance tooling for mining and drilling companies, was recognized for its proactive commitment to health and safety.

“We are a safety-first culture; nothing is more important to us, as a company, than to send our drillers home safely,” says Alan Sides, senior vice president of global drilling services for Boart Longyear. “Boart Longyear is constantly looking for ways to improve safety, whether it is through new technologies or innovative training. It is an honor for our entire team to be recognized for our efforts.”

The AME BC Health and Safety Committee gives the David Barr Award annually for excellence in leadership and innovation in mineral exploration health and safety. It will be presented to Boart Longyear during the AME BC Mineral Exploration Roundup in January.

To be nominated for the award, a company or individual must demonstrate one or more of the following:

  • leadership and innovation excellence in exploration safety,
  • improvement in safety records from year to year, and
  • efficient and compassionate behavior handling an unfortunate accident.

In the past five years, Boart Longyear has engineered several devices to improve the safety of diamond drilling. These improvements include a new safety bypass valve, an all-encompassing guarding system with interlock, a spilt tube loader and rod lifter.

In addition, the company developed safety programs to properly train and report EHS issues. By issuing all employees stop-work authority, it developed a self-empowered workforce that provides transparent accident and incident reporting. With two permanent training facilities — one for underground coring and one for surface coring — drillers are properly trained and prepared for the field, the company says.

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