Hancock’s Brilliant at the Basics: safety practice lessons for iron ore engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Hancock Prospecting’s Brilliant at the Basics (B@TB) occupational health and safety program is driving sustained improvements in incident rates by hard‑wiring personal accountability and “values‑driven” behaviours into daily iron ore operations. Led by Hancock Iron Ore head of health and safety Paul Slocombe, the framework centres on simple, repeatable controls such as pre‑start risk checks, critical control verification and peer‑to‑peer interventions rather than complex new systems. For geotechnical and processing teams, the approach means frontline supervisors own controls around pit wall inspections, isolation and lock‑out on fixed plant, and contractor management on high‑risk tasks.
Technical Brief
- For other mining operations, the model suggests prioritising a small number of auditable critical controls.
Our Take
Hancock Iron Ore’s values-driven ‘Brilliant at the Basics’ approach sits alongside more technology-led safety initiatives like its AI-based TrackDefectX rail inspections, suggesting the company is trying to blend behavioural and digital controls across its Australian iron ore operations.
Our database shows multiple recent Hancock Prospecting items tied to Saudi exploration licences and a Ma’aden JV, so embedding a consistent safety culture now at home in Australia is likely aimed at giving the company a repeatable safety template as it scales into new jurisdictions.
Among the 1516 tag-matched Safety/Projects pieces, only a subset combine iron ore operations with explicit values-based safety framing, which signals Hancock is positioning its Pilbara iron ore business as a reference case for culture-led risk reduction rather than just compliance-driven programmes.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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