Health and Safety

Cameco works in challenging physical environments and with a product that requires special attention and care.

It’s our responsibility to keep the occupational health and safety risks associated with our business at levels as low as reasonably achievable, and to send our employees and contractors home safely at the end of their shift or work rotation.

Challenges

Working in difficult environments and handling radioactive materials brings special challenges to our business. Our main challenges include:

Emergency preparation – Most of our mining activities take place in remote locations in northern Saskatchewan and Kazakhstan which are far from urban centres that are not served by first responders, like firefighters and paramedics. This means we have to manage most of our own primary emergency response needs.

In Ontario, our facilities are in urban areas, meaning we have to work closely with first responders to ensure they are fully prepared to deal with potential emergencies.

Mining environments – Mines aren’t static environments, so our working conditions and related safety challenges change, depending on things like ore grade, mine depth and geological conditions.

Protecting people from radiation and hazardous materials – Our facilities present the additional challenge of radiation safety – how to protect workers from exposure to gamma radiation, radon progeny and long-lived radioactive dust. In addition, our high-grade uranium ore deposits require added diligence to manage risks. And, at our conversion and fuel manufacturing facilities our workers also receive specialized training in the safe handling of radioactive and other hazardous materials.

Working safely requires hard work and persistence – Making sure employees and contractors follow all safety protocols and procedures carefully and consistently, no matter what, is a big challenge at any mine or industrial site. Employees may be new, or may underestimate how important it is to follow safety protocols and procedures fully. Training is an important part of the process to ensure workers understand how to work safely. The health and safety measures at Cameco operations are applied to all personnel, regardless of whether they are contractors or employees.

LTI rate
0 . 21
Avg radiation dose
0 . 81 mSv
Employees covered by OHS committees
100 %
Dangerous goods labelling issues
0

Taking Action

Safety is the first priority at Cameco and we have implemented many programs and systems to ensure the safety and health of all our workers.

Health and safety management systems – we have a robust management system based on a policy that articulates senior management’s expectations for a safe and healthy workplace, which is put into action by supporting programs, standards and procedures to ensure supervisors and workers know how to work safely.

Audits – regulatory agencies perform audits and inspections of our sites and safety systems at a minimum on an annual basis. We also complete our own internal audits on a set schedule that covers all aspects of our safety systems over a three-year period. Results and recommendations are presented to senior management, who are responsible for implementing them and correcting any deficiencies.

Contractor safety – we manage our contractors to ensure they work safely and meet the same or equivalent standards and requirements as Cameco employees.

Employee and contractor testing and training – many of our employees require specialized training and certification. For example, all employees and contractors who are exposed to radiation as a routine part of their job must receive specific training and additional monitoring. Cameco’s radiation safety training typically includes orientation, basic radiation protection and supervisor training, and, as applicable, in-depth training for radiation technicians and engineering staff. Many of our employees also have emergency response responsibilities, and are trained to administer first aid and to deal with fires and incidents involving hazardous substances. To ensure public and employee safety, we require a specific number of certified emergency responders to be on site during every shift.

Safety culture – safety is everyone’s responsibility at Cameco. It is a top priority for our management team, who are committed to ensuring a safe and healthy workplace. We ask all of our employees to consider the safety of themselves and others in everything thing they do and reinforce this requirement with regular safety meetings, a system for reporting unsafe conditions and other tools.

Corrective action process – our robust corrective action process ensures that all incidents and near-misses are reported, tracked, investigated and shared with colleagues. If action is needed to address a defect or change behaviour, it’s captured and monitored until the issue is resolved. Findings related to serious or potentially serious incidents and near-misses are communicated across the company to share learnings and prevent incidents.

Communication – operating sites and our corporate office communicate about health and safety and emergency preparedness through regularly scheduled safety and health teleconferences and SHEQ roundtable meetings.

Ground control management process – technical evaluation of the geological environment combined with regular monitoring helps us predict conditions that could become unsafe, and allows us to plan our work to manage these conditions. Ground control measures are used to stabilize our mining work areas to minimize the risk of incidents.

More about ground control

Ground control is an important safety consideration at every mine, but especially where the geological environment is challenging. Ground control is generally described as the design, installation and monitoring of rock stabilizing support. Engineers responsible for ground control have to understand how mining processes need to be adaptive to the variable rock properties, structural geology and the forces that affect ground stress (including groundwater).

Managing ground stability at our McArthur River and Cigar Lake mine sites is critical because the orebodies are in or near water-saturated sandstone formations where significant ground failure may lead to an uncontrolled water inflow.

Managing ground control risks

  • Training
    • technical personnel with formal training in geology, mine engineering and rock mechanics
    • supervision and operations personnel with site specific hazard awareness training and ground support techniques
  • Planning
    • new development and mining areas are subject to core drilling and technical analysis to investigate geological conditions and identify appropriate measures to ensure safe mine design
    • risk assessment and risk ranking are used to ensure appropriate levels of control and oversight are applied to areas of potentially higher risk
    • internal and third-party experts conduct independent reviews of our mining plans and geological models
  • Monitoring and site inspections
    • carried out by our geology, engineering and operations teams
    • geological mapping to verify ground types and conditions are as expected
    • use of ground monitoring instrumentation to measure ground movement and changes to ground stresses
    • daily inspections of all active areas (including inspecting the headings at start of every round, usually three or four times per day)
    • weekly ground control inspections in all areas of the mine
    • third-party inspections at least annually

Radiation safety – formal radiation protection programs are in place at Cameco operations that involve radiation risks. These programs meet standards outlined in our corporate radiation protection program and meet all regulatory requirements. We also set radiation targets for controlling existing radiation risks and reducing individual radiation doses.

Average radiation dose to workers at our operations is far below the annual limit of 50 mSv or 100 mSv over five years mandated by federal regulators in Canada. Our long-term average dose is 0.80 mSv annually.

More on radiation safety

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is responsible for regulating nuclear facilities in Canada, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the United States. Their standards and requirements are aligned with international standards for radiation safety.

Most national regulations are based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection’s scientific recommendations and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s standards.

Cameco’s radiation standards are developed by the corporate safety, health, environment and quality department, in consultation with our sites. They consider regulatory requirements, international standards and industry best practices.

Managing risks to protect people

We use the following tactics to protect people in or near our facilities from radiation risks.

  • Facility design – decades of experience processing uranium and modern computer modelling tools help us predict exposures and design our facilities to protect the people who work there. This includes, among other things, using powerful ventilation systems in our underground mines to circulate fresh air.
  • Approach to work – we use remote mining methods, such as raise boring and jet boring, or remote equipment at our underground mines to maximize the distance between workers and radiation sources. We also control groundwater through freezing and other techniques to minimize the entry of radon to work areas.
  • Air monitoring – we monitor radiation levels in our work areas to detect any significant changes and confirm working conditions are safe.
  • Limiting exposure – with time, distance and shielding:
    • time – limiting the duration of exposure to a radiation source reduces the dose you’ll receive from it
    • distance – radiation intensity decreases sharply with distance, so working further away from a source of radiation is safer than working near it
    • shielding – air or skin can be a sufficient barrier for low-energy alpha and beta radiation, but more significant barriers are needed to block more energetic radiation such as gamma rays and neutrons. Barriers made of lead, concrete or water are effective for this. There are special plastic shields that stop beta particles, and air will stop most alpha particles
  • Monitoring radiation levels – Because there are several sources of radiation exposure, each component needs to be assessed separately:
    • gamma radiation – individual, personal dosimetry is the standard practice for measuring gamma radiation levels. We collect and review this data each month and report it quarterly and annually. We keep personal dosimetry records on file permanently
    • long-lived radioactive dust (LLRD) – the presence of LLRD in the air can be measured by the use of measuring devices placed in areas or worn by workers or by bioassay measurements. Information from monitoring devices can be converted to a dose by knowing the type of LLRD and the duration of the exposure. Bioassay data is another good method to assess the dose from LLRD because it measures the level of radionuclides actually in the body (lung counting) or excreted from the body (urine samples)
    • radon progeny – air sampling is the only dosimetry option for radon progeny. At mine sites, we use area monitoring systems for above ground mining and milling facilities and personal monitoring for underground operations. At refining, conversion and fuel fabrication facilities, this is not a significant issue
  • Tracking and reporting – monthly, quarterly and/or annual reporting to regulators and company management

Case Study - McArthur River water cannon

Cameco has always strived to exceed expectations and follow the ALARA principle (as low as reasonably achievable) to ensure workers are protected from radiation exposure.

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