The National Mining Association (NMA) recently recognized Dyno Nobel’s achievement of independent certification under its CORESafety® system. Dyno Nobel Inc., a global manufacturer of explosives, is the first non-mining company to receive independent certification under NMA’s signature safety program.

“The safety and health of our employees and contractors extends far beyond the mines – it’s a core value of the numerous supporting companies that make mining possible,” said Hal Quinn, president and CEO of NMA. “With this certification, Dyno Nobel has not only proven its commitment to continuously improving safety and health at its operations, but also marked a significant milestone. We are encouraged by Dyno Nobel’s efforts and hope that it inspires other companies serving the mining industry to take the CORESafety pledge and complete certification.”

“Dyno Nobel is proud to achieve this level of safety certification, and reaffirms our core value of Zero Harm for Everyone Everyday”, said Nick Stratford, president of Dyno Nobel Americas. “Zero Harm is the foundation of our company’s culture and we engage with each employee every day through reinforcement of safety behaviors like Take5!, our 5 step risk assessment tool, Safety Shares at every meeting, and many other activities, to ensure the safety of everyone, every day is lived as our top priority.”

CORESafety’s approach to safety and health emphasizes accident prevention using a risk-based management system anchored in leadership, management and assurance. The CORESafety framework is designed to go beyond what is required by regulations, focusing on a goal of continuous improvement. Its objective is zero fatalities and a 50 percent reduction in mining’s injury rate within five years of implementation. Since its inception in 2011, CORESafety participants have seen a 74 percent reduction in fatalities.

CORESafety is a voluntary safety and health initiative developed and facilitated by the NMA, the U.S. mining industry’s national trade association. CORESafety participants agree to: commit to the CORESafety system; implement a functionally-equivalent version of the CORESafety safety and health management system; submit to NMA annual self-assessments of progress toward implementation of the CORESafety safety and health management system; and, if the company elects to become or maintain CORESafety certification, complete a third-party assessment of its safety and health management system to verify that it is functionally equivalent to CORESafety and submit the assessment report to NMA.

Tom Hethmon, principal at Hethmon Associates LLC, conducted the independent audit for Dyno Nobel. For more information on CORESafety, visit www.coresafety.org.