hbr.

org

How I Did It… Cynthia Carroll is the CEO

of Anglo American plc.

The CEO of Anglo American on

Getting Serious About Safety

W
by Cynthia Carroll hen I became the CEO of Anglo deaths were inevitable at such a large min-
American, in 2007, I encoun- ing company, because ours is simply a dan-
tered plenty of challenges. For gerous business. I fundamentally rejected
The Idea decades the company had been made up that assumption. My priority was to see
Mining involves risk, and of unrelated businesses, and had been how things worked with my own eyes. So
some executives believe organized and managed accordingly. I I began a tour of our operations, visiting
believed it needed a clear vision, guiding mines in Australia, Chile, Colombia, Ven-
fatalities are inevitable.
values, an overarching strategy, common ezuela, and South Africa.
But after nearly 200 on-
business objectives, and, above all, a safe There were safety concerns at all the
the-job deaths in the five
working environment for its employees. operations I visited, but one of them had
years prior to her arrival,
photography: Getty Images

In my experience, a strong safety perfor- a particularly poor track record: our plati-
Carroll decided to take mance translates into a strong business num business in South Africa, which at the
a public stand to create performance. time employed more than 86,000 people.
safer working conditions. Over the previous five years Anglo Conditions there are extremely challeng-
American had suffered nearly 200 fatali- ing. Various cultural groups have to work
ties. Some company veterans insisted that closely together with no common language.

June 2012 Harvard Business Review 1301

How I Did It

The literacy rate is very low, and the work helicopter ride back to our Johannesburg No such shutdown had ever before been
takes place several hundred meters under- offices. done in the mining industry, and the costs
ground, where it’s dark, hot, wet, and steep. I had just landed when the CEO of our would be enormous. This was not a popular
In some areas the miners have only enough platinum division pulled me aside. “I have decision. In fact, the platinum CEO left the
room to kneel. some bad news,” he said quietly. “We’ve company a few weeks later.
When I visited the operations, my con- had another fatality.” Just hours after I’d
versations with local managers were frus- visited the mine, one of our workers had A Traditional World
trating. Safety was improving, they assured been killed after he slipped onto a con- When the Anglo American board hired me,
me, but it would never be perfect. My goal veyor belt. the directors were looking for a change
of zero harm was simply not achievable. That was it. I refused to accept that fa- agent. I doubt that most employees knew
The head of our platinum operations at the talities were an inevitable by-product of what kind of change agent I would turn out
time insisted repeatedly, “Cynthia, you just mining. There was only one way to send to be. In its nearly 100 years of operation,
have to understand…” As I talked to people that message throughout the company. We the company had been led by South Afri-
and examined the facilities, I wondered would shut down the world’s largest plati- cans—all men—and steeped in traditional
how much authority someone who is un- num mine, at Rustenburg, which employed views of how to run a mining business. As
derground for hours on end, with a shift more than 30,000 people. And we would neither a South African nor a man, and with
supervisor right behind him, really has. I do so immediately. a history of managing capital-­intensive
questioned whether a line worker had the The CEO of the platinum division prob- multinational industrial companies, I was
power to put up his hand and say, “I’m not ably thought that my directive was meant brought in to provide a fresh perspective
going to do this, because it is unsafe.” mostly as a public relations gesture—that and a different kind of leadership. I had my
I met with shift supervisors and mine after a perfunctory safety check we would work cut out for me.
managers—the people we trusted to keep resume production as swiftly as possible. Part of the challenge was scale and
everyone safe. I wondered if they were the That was not what I had in mind. I wanted reach. Anglo American is the world’s most
right people for that responsibility. Could an indefinite shutdown, during which we diversified mining company, by both ge-
they engage with the entire workforce? would fundamentally overhaul our safety ography and commodity mix, with 90% of
Could they motivate the miners and make procedures with a top-to-bottom audit of our operations in developing countries. We
them receptive to a different way of think- our processes and infrastructure followed are the largest producer of platinum (about
ing? I was bothered by what I’d seen, and by a complete retraining of the Rustenburg 40% of world output) and of diamonds
I pondered these questions during the workforce. (through De Beers). We are also a major pro-
ducer of copper, nickel, iron ore, and coal
for both steelmaking and power generation.
We operate on six continents with 150,000
permanent and contract employees.
Part of the challenge related to tradi-
tion. Anglo American was born in South
Africa in 1917, and although it had grown
into an international company over time,
it retained a culture of strict hierarchy and
a rigid, top-down management style. This
was a very traditional world, and I was in
an unprecedented position to influence
change. For just one example, until very re-
Photography: courtesy of Anglo American

cently women hadn’t been allowed to visit

underground at mines in South Africa, let
alone work there.
Most important, however, was the
question of the industry’s role in the 21st
century. The commodities we produce are
Anglo American’s vital to economic growth and the techno-
platinum mine at logical revolution, and we must keep these
Rustenburg precious resources flowing. But we must

1302 Harvard Business Review June 2012

 hbr.org

Reducing Fatalities in Anglo American’s Mines

44 40 28 20 15 17
2006 2007
Carroll Named
2008 2009 2010 2011
CEO in March
Source Anglo American

also contribute to society as a whole. The

communities in which we operate should
At an initial public summit, the industry’s death
benefit from our presence on a sustainable toll was discussed openly, and everyone had to
basis, and, above all, our workers must be face a harsh reality. Then we were ready to move.
safe. To realize these goals requires a strong
and transparent collaboration between the
mining industry and its stakeholders: gov- had gone wrong in the past and to instill and have such widespread ramifications
ernments, unions, communities, share- personal and group responsibility. Leaders that a single organization couldn’t do it
holders, customers, suppliers, and NGOs. also engaged with the entire workforce at alone. Even a decision as small as how
That is not an approach the industry has once, in sports stadiums. many hours were appropriate for a safe
been known to take in the past. Standards Within weeks of getting Rustenburg shift needed agreement from the govern-
within it still differ greatly, and mining back on line, I reached out to both the Na- ment, the unions, and the company. If we
companies have traditionally operated in tional Union of Mineworkers and the minis- were really going to change things, we
something of a vacuum, their reputations ter of South Africa’s Department of Mineral had to collaborate. Our initiative became
affected by numerous legacy behaviors. Resources. My goal went beyond changing known as the Tripartite Alliance.
practices at a single mine: Anglo Ameri- We had an initial public summit to
Inviting Public Scrutiny can’s safety record wasn’t out of line with which we invited industry heads and the
The decision to shut down Rustenburg those of its competitors, and I was horri- media. It was an uncomfortable experi-
and stop production for seven weeks was a fied by safety statistics for the industry as ence: Facts and figures relating to the in-
turning point for Anglo American, and over a whole. The minister was surprised by my dustry’s death toll were discussed openly,
time it has led to an overhaul of safety prac- overture. Mining companies have histori- and everyone had to face a harsh reality.
tices in mines across the world. In the short cally had combative and mutually suspi- But once those facts were on the table, we
term, the move prompted complaints and cious relationships with both host govern- were ready to move. We formed a working
resistance within the company. Many em- ments and labor unions. Like some of my group that included industry executives,
ployees were not prepared to change, and employees, he questioned the wisdom of government officials, and labor leaders.
almost all the managers at that mine were taking a public stand on safety. The ground rules were simple: All three
replaced. Ultimately that was a good thing, “Are you sure about this?” the minister parties would be considered absolutely
because ensuring that we had the right asked me. “You’re going to be exposing An- equal in this alliance—in determining the
people in crucial roles was an important glo American to scrutiny, and you’ll have agenda and how the work was to be carried
step in creating safer working conditions. to make commitments that you can’t turn out. The working group would begin by
After we scrupulously examined all our back on.” I believed that the exposure and studying global best practices in safety. We
safety procedures and issues, we had to the commitments would actually be very ultimately toured mines on four continents,
retrain more than 30,000 workers before helpful, because they would put greater and we also visited industrial operations
any of them could produce a single ounce pressure on the company—and the indus- outside the mining sector.
of platinum at Rustenburg again. Small- try—to change.
group meetings and face-to-face commu- Our partnership with the government Changing Body Language
nication between executives and individ- and the union was unusual but necessary. Over the next six months members of the
ual employees were used to identify what Making mines safer would be so complex group began opening up in a way they

June 2012 Harvard Business Review 1303

How I Did It hbr.org

Anglo American
Facts & Financials
Founded: 1917
Headquarters: LONDON
permanent Employees: 107,000

hadn’t previously. At one point a well- tive risk management and safety program
known businessperson in South Africa, (to date 3,000 leaders have been through revenue
and
who had become involved in our discus- it), and since 2008 we have trained 12,000 operating income
US$ in millions 36,548
sions, told me, “We’re used to putting on line managers, supervisors, and frontline
boxing gloves with Anglo American, and employees. 11,095
32,964 32,929
here you just come in and tell us what you These changes put pressure on the en-
30,559 6,850 9,763
think, and expect the same from us. That’s tire industry, and some competitors were 29,404
8,272
something completely new.” I could tell we unenthusiastic, to say the least. I got calls 7,874
were making progress from how our body from other CEOs who said, “It’s going to 24,637
language evolved. When we first began take us more time. We’re going to have to 4,957
meeting, we would sit on far sides of the spend more money. You’re creating ob-
room or the table. By the spring of 2008 we stacles and challenges for all of us.” But I
were much more relaxed. We had formed believe it was the only way forward for the
close, trusting relationships and become mining industry.
partners and friends.
Eventually the group came back with Mining has never been more complex than
key recommendations, including estab- it is now. Standards for environmental risk
lishing universal safety standards. But and safety differ around the world. Labor
even after we’d agreed on what was safe, issues, increasingly assertive host gov-
each of the stakeholders would need the ernments, and stronger campaigning in
capacity to manage safety. Because the local communities play a role. It’s our job
people who would be implementing the to challenge ideas that are wrong or unrea-

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011
safety program would do a far better job if sonable—such as the notion that mining
Source Anglo American
they were involved in setting the standards, is just inherently dangerous. Our focused
we included lower-level managers, union approach on safety has brought signifi-
leaders, and government representatives cant benefits to our overall performance
in the planning as well. Anglo American at Anglo American. I have always said greater productivity and efficiency across
committed to training for all employees. that safety is a leading indicator of wider the board.
The company invited senior leaders from performance—if you get safety right, then Our work has made a huge difference.
both the union and the Department of other things will follow, from stronger rela- In partnership with the Department of
Mineral Resources to attend our execu- tionships with unions and governments to Mineral Resources and major labor unions,
Anglo American has improved its safety
record considerably. In 2011, 17 employees
lost their lives at Anglo American opera-
tions, compared with 44 in 2006, the year
before my arrival—a reduction of 62%.
Time lost owing to injuries is down by
more than 50%. This has had a positive ef-
fect throughout the industry: Fatalities in
South African mining as a whole have de-
clined by about 25%.
That’s not to say our work is done. We
Photography: courtesy of Anglo American

recently held a companywide remem-

brance of workers who had been injured or
killed. It breaks my heart every time I get
a phone call saying that there’s been a fa-
tality. This is a continuing struggle, and we
can’t afford to lose focus.
We’re not perfect. But I’m determined
A routine safety briefing at to reach my goal of zero harm.
Rustenburg’s Union Mine HBR Reprint R1206A

1304 Harvard Business Review June 2012