Exploration drilling services company Boart Longyear has earned the prestigious David Barr Award for its commitment to worker health and safety. The award is given annually by the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia.

“We are a safety-first culture; nothing is more important to us, as a company, than to send our drillers home safely,” said Alan Sides, senior vice president of global drilling services. “Boart Longyear is constantly looking for ways to improve safety, whether it is through new technologies or innovative training. It is an honor for our entire team to be recognized for our efforts.”

The group’s safety committee recognized Boart Longyear for “its leadership in addressing safety issues through innovation and seeing substantially increased performance in health and safety as a result.”

“It is an honor to congratulate this year’s award recipients,” said Michael McPhie, the group’s chairman of the board. “The success of the mineral exploration and development industry based in British Columbia is due in large part to these individuals and teams who have shown excellence in mineral exploration and development as well as leadership in corporate social responsibility.”

Qualifications for the award include:

• Leadership and innovation in exploration safety.
• Year over year improvement in safety records.
• A record of handling accidents with efficiency and compassion.

Through the last five years, Boart Longyear improved diamond drilling safety with technologies like a new safety bypass valve, an all-encompassing guarding system with interlock, a spilt-tube loader and rod lifter. The company also implemented safety and training programs for EHS issues and gave all employees stop-work authority.

The company says it works hard to prepare drillers for field work at two training facilities it maintains, one for underground coring and one for surface coring.

The group will present the award at a dinner in late January at the Mineral Exploration Roundup: Resources for Life event in Vancouver, British Columbia. Find out more about the event and register at www.amebc.ca/roundup.

Boart Longyear, based in Salt Lake City, offers drilling services, equipment and performance tooling for the mining industry. The company has more than 9,000 employees worldwide, manufactures equipment in six global factories, and sells to customers in more than 100 countries. For more information, visit www.boartlongyear.com.