New manager’s safety mission
RBM’s new General Manager wants to achieve an accident free mine.
DESCRIBED as the ‘man on a mission’, Richards Bay Minerals’ (RBM) recently appointed Mining General Manager (GM), Ben Baxter is working tirelessly to achieve ‘zero harm’ at the mine.
He is currently spearheading the company’s Fatality Prevention Programme (FPP) to put an end to potentially dangerous incidents at RBM.
Born and educated in the UK, Baxter came to South Africa in 1996 to complete his masters (MSc) thesis fieldwork in mining geology at RBM.
Since then, he has climbed the corporate ladder to Mining Manager, Operations General Manager at Rio Tinto’s Madagascar ilmenite mine Qit Madagascar Minerals (QMM) and finally RBM’s Mining General Manager.
‘QMM has been a fantastic challenge and a wonderful experience, broadening my leadership and technical experience, while developing the operation in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner,’ said Baxter.
‘It’s good to be back in Richards Bay among friends and colleagues.
‘I hope to bring a broad experience both from RBM and QMM back to my new role as Mining GM to help me lead the mine team forward to new heights.
‘I look forward to meeting some new faces as well as catching up again with former colleagues!
Baxter fondly remembers one of the biggest challenges in his career.
‘In 2004, my first experience in line management was determining how to manoeuvre the MPE (mobile plant equipment) plant around a sunken crane in the centre of the mining pond!
‘I didn’t know how we’d do it, but with my shift supervisors, we brainstormed, planned and then safely executed the operation.
‘It was a major learning curve for me and I moved from technical specialist to line manager.’
RBM Communities and Corporate Relations General Manager Fundi Dlamini said Baxter’s passion, authenticity, good listening skills and understanding attitude is the perfect combination to achieve ‘a culture of zero harm’ at the mine.
‘Leading the adaptive change team is no mean feat.
‘It certainly needs an individual like Ben, who epitomises ‘walking the talk’ when it comes to implementing change across the organisation – the kind of changes that are necessary to prevent an injury or fatality.’
