Definitions

Incident: An unwanted event which instantaneously or over the course of time harms or otherwise negatively impacts (internal and/or external) people, the environment, company assets (i.e. plant, property, or equipment) and /or the company’s reputation. It is an unwanted event which leads or may lead to the actualisation of risk. An incident can have one or more consequences (material losses/damage/business interruption, harm to people safety, harm to people occupational health, environment, legal and regulatory, social, and reputational) as per the Anglo American Group Risk Matrix.

Issue: Issues are questions, requests for information, or general perceptions. If not addressed well, issues may become grievances. Issues do not have to be registered as grievances, but they should be recorded so that emerging trends can be identified and addressed before they escalate (see Section 3A).

Learning from Incidents (LFI): an investigation process used for all incidents, independent of consequence level and consequence type. The LFI process consists of related steps which ensure incidents are reported, investigated, learnings are shared, and corrective and preventative actions are communicated and closed-out in a consistent manner. This will ensure that, as an organisation, we collectively learn from incidents, and the effectiveness of controls is continually reviewed and improved to prevent similar incidents (repeats) from occurring.

Incident with social consequence(s): an unwanted event related to site activities that has an adverse impact on the health and safety of external stakeholders, or results in an actual impact on external stakeholders or contractor workers economic welfare, personal and political security and/ or cultural heritage. An incident with social consequences may arise from a site’s technical failure or accident, or a failure to anticipate, prevent or mitigate an impact. All incidents with social consequences should be investigated under the LFI process.

Grievance: a specific allegation or complaint relating to the site, its policies, activities, real or perceived impacts or the behaviour of its employees or contractors. Grievances are an expression of dissatisfaction with the company on the part of stakeholders. Grievances can be expressed through physical action (e.g. protests, road blockages, land invasions); verbally (in the course of discussions with site staff, etc.); or in writing. All screened-in grievances should be recorded as both a grievance and an (actual or potential) incident and should be investigated using the LFI process. Some grievances, such as a protests or road blockages, may have financial, legal, and/or reputational consequences for the site. These should be not be classified as an incident with social consequences, but as incidents with financial, legal, and/or reputational consequences as appropriate, and should also be investigated using the LFI process.

Actual consequence rating: a consequence rating assigned to all incidents, based on the actual unwanted event; i.e. what actually happened.

Potential consequence rating: a consequence rating assigned to all incidents, based on a reasonable worst-case scenario; i.e. what could have happened.

Preliminary consequence rating: a preliminary (actual and potential) consequence rating is assigned to an incident before LFI investigation, based on the preliminary and often incomplete information available at the time.

Final consequence rating: a final (actual and potential) consequence rating is assigned to an incident after LFI investigation, based on all information collected as part of the LFI investigation. Therefore, the final consequence rating may differ from the preliminary consequence rating.

Near-miss: A condition where the release of the hazard and/or exposure to the hazard in an uncontrolled manner does not result in harm (i.e. no injury, ill-health, damage, etc.). Near-misses should be recorded as potential incidents.

Hazard: Source or situation with the potential for harm.

Grievance process: the process for receiving, recording, and resolving grievances.

Objectives

Incident and grievance management is an effective way for both reinforcing positive long-term relationships with stakeholders and to detect issues early on that may result in risks to the business if not addressed. Incident and grievance management is not a substitute for stakeholder engagement, but can be valuable in multiple ways:

• to ensure unwanted events with negative impacts on external stakeholders are dealt with swiftly and appropriately
• to allow sites to identify and correct problems before they recur or escalate into more serious problems
• to elevate sites’ credibility and reputation by demonstrating that they listen to stakeholders and take their complaints seriously
• to offer an additional means to track and monitor impacts and risks
• to provide insight into stakeholders' understanding (or misunderstanding) of site policies, activities and behaviour
• to provide an efficient and low-cost means of resolving disputes and remedy, where appropriate
• to avoid tension and conflict with stakeholders resulting from neglect or mismanagement of grievances.

The aim is not to achieve zero grievances. The desired outcome is a process where stakeholders are comfortable sharing information and engaging the company in dialogue. Zero or very few grievances may be an indicator that the grievance process is not effective and could suggest that it is either not known, not accessible, not trusted or not used appropriately by site staff. As awareness of the grievance process spreads among external stakeholders, the volume of reported grievances may increase significantly. This is not unusual and is often temporary. Figure 3B.1 below shows the typical volume flow of a well-functioning grievance process. Regardless of a site’s social performance, external stakeholders will always have grievances of some kind – it is a normal part of any business.

Figure 3B.1 Typical volume flow for a well-functioning grievance process

Lifecycle planning

The policy requirements for a site-level grievance management procedure and an Learning from Incident procedure apply across all stages of the asset lifecycle. The grievance process should be designed to be proportionate to the level of risk and potential impacts.