The COVID-19 podcast interviews are part of Mining Journal's Stakeholder Engagement programme, a 12-month campaign focused on helping the mining industry better understand and engage with key stakeholder groups. Find out more here.
"I don't think anyone has ‘lockdown on account of global pandemic' on their risk register," IsoMextrix senior executive Cecilia Jofré told Mining Journal during a podcast as part of its Stakeholder Engagement programme.
"What this points to is the fact that perhaps we need to revisit our emergency preparedness responses and business continuity management processes within organisations - dust them off and have a look at what needs to be done.
"Certainly, there will be a heightened awareness on public health, which is going to spill over in terms of how [mining] engages in the future. There will be new protocols we will all have to observe and there will be more of an intense look at these policies now and into the future."
Accenture global mining lead David Burns agreed, telling Mining Journal the crisis had created an opportunity for companies to reset.
"If companies can forge new levels of trust with their workforce and stakeholders, I firmly believe they'll position their businesses for greater resiliency and productivity in the future," he said.
Burns said the focus should be on the validation of business continuity plans across suppliers, unions, and communities, and the integration of stakeholders in creating those processes.
He also expressed admiration for some of the work done to date in the mining sector, not only regarding stakeholder management but in the rapid execution of some longer-term plans, which had been executed over exceptionally short timeframes out of necessity. This could, potentially, reset the expected timelines going forward now executives had experienced what could be achieved when pushed.
Cecilia Jofre from IsoMetrix discusses COVID-19
Listen to the Cecilia Jofre interview in full here.
David Burns from Accenture discusses COVID-19
Listen to the David Burns interview in full here.
Full interviews with these and other experts are available on the Mining Journal Stakeholder engagement website on https://www.mining-stakeholders.com