7 April 2020

Our response to COVID-19

Update 26 March

The health and safety of our workforce and community is our number one priority. To date we have not recorded any cases of COVID-19 among the Whitehaven workforce but we continue to plan for a range of scenarios.

We are managing risks arising from COVID-19 appropriately and proportionately, and continuing to work as normally as possible. However, we have implemented a number of measures designed to continue to keep our people safe and limit viral transmission.

Key measures include:

Banning non-essential travel
Implementing work from home practices for employees in non-operational or non-business critical roles
Restricting non-essential access to our mine sites
Postponing large gatherings such as our Safehaven conference and Contractor safety forums
Transitioning face to face training and inductions to eLearning packages wherever possible
Reviewing cleaning and sanitation, and increasing stocks of cleaning and hygiene products
Sourcing additional critical products, PPE and health supplies as required
Adjusting operations to practice social distancing wherever possible, including by breaking up pre-starts into multiple groups and/or moving them outside where possible, reducing the number of people in vehicles, and implementing roster changes to stagger start time
Sharing new information with our people through a range of channels as it becomes available
Offering to credit Special Personal (Sick or Carer’s) Leave to cover self-isolation

For months we have worked closely with our suppliers to maintain continuity of supply, and we are ensuring our IT systems support the increased numbers of our people who are working remotely.

As the largest private sector employer in North West NSW, we are conscious of our role in supporting the local economy and contributing to local commerce. We are doing everything we can to ensure we maintain this contribution during the difficult months ahead while keeping our workforce safe and healthy, in compliance with advice from State and Federal authorities.

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