Safety

The BHP Board has established a Sustainability Committee to support and advise the BHP Board on sustainability matters across the Group. The Committee oversees the Group’s health, safety, environment, climate and community performance and advises the Board on the adequacy of governance arrangements with respect to those areas. This includes monitoring the implementation of the Group's health and safety strategy, policies and processes and reviewing relevant data, reports and performance trends. Executive leadership is accountable for implementing the health and safety strategy, managing risks effectively across operations and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

Health and safety governance is supported by a structured framework of policies, standards and procedures that define minimum requirements. Assurance of their effectiveness is provided through internal audits, management reviews and targeted independent assurance activities.

For more information on the role of the Sustainability Committee in overseeing BHP’s approach to sustainability and delivery on our sustainability ambitions, refer to the Sustainability approach webpage.

Effective engagement and strong partnerships are fundamental to creating a safe and inclusive work environment. This includes our relationships with contractors and vendors, who play a critical role in supporting and delivering work safely.

Employees and contractors have multiple channels to raise safety concerns and report hazards, including line leadership, formal reporting systems and anonymous mechanisms. We work closely with our workforce and contractors to convey health and safety expectations, strengthen risk control management, and drive continuous improvement in line with our standards and legal obligations.

Health and safety performance, learnings and expectations are regularly communicated through multiple channels to ensure accessibility and understanding across the workforce.

Field leadership

Strong, visible leadership is central to protecting our people and operating safely. Through our Global Field Leadership Program, leaders regularly engage with frontline teams to understand the realities of work, reinforce expectations and to build a culture of care, trust and accountability.

By spending time in the field, leaders listen to feedback, identify health and safety risks, and verify that effective controls are in place to keep people safe. These interactions also encourage open conversations, empowering the workforce to speak up about hazards, share ideas and contribute to safer and more efficient ways of working. Insights gained are used to recognise innovation and continuously improve practices across our operations.

The purpose of the Field Leadership Program is to strengthen organisational capability at all levels. Leaders role model our values, reinforce standards and provide coaching that supports safe decision-making and improved safety outcomes.

Field leadership activities are embedded into regular leadership routines and include four core elements:

• Layered audits to conduct deep dive reviews of health, safety or environment topics
• Critical control observations to confirm understanding and application of key risk controls
• Planned task confirmations to ensure work is performed as intended and identify improvement opportunities
• Take Time talks to foster open, inclusive discussions about safety and work execution

Introduced globally in FY2019, the Field Leadership Program is monitored across operated assets for meaningful insights and themes to support ongoing risk management, continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.

Contractor management

BHP expects contractors, suppliers and vendors to manage occupational health and safety risks in line with BHP standards and applicable legal requirements. These expectations are embedded into contracting and procurement processes, including pre-qualification, contract terms and performance monitoring.

We work in partnership with contractors and vendors to identify and manage health and safety risks, share learnings and drive continuous improvement, particularly where activities are performed on BHP sites or under BHP’s operational influence.

BHP maintains a suite of global health and safety policies, standards, procedures and specifications that define minimum requirements for managing material occupational health and safety risks across our operated assets. They apply to employees and contractors under BHPs operational control, supporting a consistent level of protection for all workers, regardless of location, commodity or role.

Oversight of these policies and standards forms part of BHP’s governance framework, with their implementation and effectiveness monitored through internal audits, management reviews and, where appropriate, independent external assurance activities.