Task 4 ‒ Engage with potentially affected communities – Anglo American Social Way toolkit

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Task 4 ‒ Engage with potentially affected communities

Contents in this section:

Task 1 – Identify site-induced emergencies that could impact communities

Task 2 – Establish internal collaboration to develop the EMP

Task 3 – Develop a co-ordinated approach with key external stakeholders

Task 4 ‒ Engage with potentially affected communities

Task 5 – Assess local capacity for emergency response and recovery

Potentially affected communities, including vulnerable groups, who may be affected by a site-induced emergency with off-site impacts, must:

be informed of site-induced emergencies that may impact them, including the nature and extent of associated impacts
provide feedback on effectiveness of current and proposed controls
know what the warning signs for an emergency are
know what to do during each emergency scenario
know where/how to get information during an emergency
know how to participate in recovery efforts

This should be achieved through regular awareness-raising campaigns, training, and involving communities in functional exercises, including drills and simulations as appropriate, to ensure they are familiar with the procedures that apply in the event of an emergency that may affect them. Using a strongly participatory approach to plan with communities, rather than for communities reduces community concerns about the site, ensures that communities have an adequate understanding of the site and how it may impact on them, and empowers communities by knowing what to do in case of an emergency.

Box 4D.10 Case Study: Gaming

The use of gaming as a tool for participatory stakeholder engagement has become increasingly popular, including in emergency management.

For example, a role-play game can be used to create awareness within a local community of potential emergencies and the complexity of planning before, during and post emergency.

The team are assigned roles that put them out of their comfort zone to trigger empathy and provide a change of perspective. This can lead to an increased awareness of responsibility and ownership of preventative and response actions, as well as a collaborative approach to plan and respond for disasters.

Engagement with potentially affected communities and other key external stakeholders is not a one-off event but should be ongoing throughout the four emergency management cycle stages, and be commensurate to the level of risk and impact and the interest of and concerns raised by the potentially affected communities and other external stakeholders.

Engagement should also be triggered by relevant (anticipated) changes in the internal context (such as tailings facility expansions, change in transportation routes, etc.) and/or the external context (such as a change in demographics and/or land use in potentially affected communities, etc.)

Individuals on the contact roster (see Task 7) are part of a key stakeholder group that should be actively involved in engagements so that work relationships become robust under stress and in case of emergency. All engagement activities should be undertaken in line with the guidance and tools provided in Social Way Section 3A: Stakeholder Engagement.

Should there be limited or no success in engaging potentially affected communities, resulting in significant gaps in emergency preparedness, this should be escalated to the General Manager, the BU Crisis Management Team, the BU Business Continuity Team, BU and Group Social Performance, and other internal stakeholders as appropriate. All efforts taken to engage must be documented.