Why Mining Needs Learning Management Systems as a Vital Compliance Tool
Compliance is a key ingredient in the transformation of the mining industry. Leading-edge Learning Management Systems or Learning Experience Platforms enable this. Whether, simply, resources are running out or, in more complex ways, new technologies and synthetic substances will soon replace the need to extract minerals and materials from the earth, the industry has no future, according to the naysayers.
Overall, the conclusion is very wrong, because it's clear that mining has an important and long-term future. Globally, billions of people use mined output in myriad consumer products and industrial processes, millions of local people rely on the industry for their livelihoods, and thousands of communities will continue to be located in or around mining enterprises. However, it is true that, like all industries, mining is transforming according to the needs of 21st-century societies. And so, yes, the mining sector will look different in the future: certainly, soon it will be a very different industry.This transformation can be thought of in terms of five 'Cs'. Mining is undergoing fundamental changes in aspects of Capital, Collaboration, Communities, Culture, and Compliance. The mining companies that will thrive in the future are those that are actively seeking sources of patient capital. They are building wide, deep and robust networks of collaboration to safeguard supply chains and resources. They are prioritising the needs of local communities, and fostering innovative cultures, today.
Compliance - total, and proactive - is the 'C' on which the others rest. Licenses-to-operate (LTOs), the evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) requirements, the domestic statutory frameworks in spheres of operations: these are areas of increasing complexity. More than ever, miners face critically important compliance challenges.
Safety first
This is underscored by a few illustrative examples focusing on safety. Tragically, the mining sector in Zambia continues to be hit by high-consequence incidents, most recently involving fatalities at the Mopani copper mine in Kitwe. This followed just days after Canadian-headquartered and listed company First Quantum Minerals suspended operations at its Sentinel open-pit copper mine after an accident there killed one worker and severely injured another. Accidents such as these happen in mines all over the world. A few months ago 41 miners were killed in a blast at the state-owned Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises in Bartin, northern Turkey. A similar incident had occurred just months before at La Mestiza coal mine in Colombia, also with awful results.
It is true that the industry is getting better at prioritising safety, and that recent decades have seen significant progress in related aspects such as stakeholder engagement, community participation, and tight management oversight of operations. This makes sense, because non-compliance can be beyond costly. Enormous fines or the withdrawal of operating licenses can liquidate small- to medium-sized mining enterprises. Although the Vale-Billiton joint venture could swallow the $7 billion compensatory payment after the 2019 collapse of a waste dam at its Samarco mine in Brazil - a catastrophe that wiped out a nearby village and killed 270 people - the monetary cost is only part of the consequence. Brazilian prosecutors have charged sixteen mine executives, including the former CEO of Vale, with murder and environmental offences. Whether or not they deliberately underestimated the risk of the dam's collapse will be a matter for the courts. But, surely, the lesson for everyone involved in the mining industry is that compliance is a vital cog towards profitability - but it is also, literally, a matter of life and death?
And so mining organisations must, and can, do more. Leaders of mining companies should dedicate similar levels of expertise and attention to issues of compliance as they do to capital, exploration, technology and profitability. Compliance must be viewed as foundational to a successful mining operation.
To that end, Learning Management Systems (LMS) are now critical to how mining companies deliver and manage employee training and keep employees engaged with safety and other compliance-related issues.
The newer generation of LMSs incorporate machine learning and more powerful back-end capabilities, with two key implications: learning is now finetuned and tailored for individual employees' needs, and training and development processes can be fully integrated within the company's overall communication and information systems. So, the newer phraseology for an LMS is a Learning Experience Platform (LXP), because it emphasises giving the employee, as the user, more opportunity to input, greater flexibility, and personalised learning experiences - including micro-learnings in the flow of work.
The business-critical need to mitigate risk
More than simply enabling compliance, LXPs can come as close as may be possible to ensuring that compliance is happening. Consider this scenario, which is quite likely to have played out in almost every mining company:
The legal department - under pressure from regulatory authorities - is pressing the HR director for a record of proof that mandatory safety training has happened. The HR department has been intending to roll out the modules, but the procurement department paused this because of concerns about the compatibility of the current learning and development (L&D) platform and applications with the company's other information and business systems.
Without the training and the necessary records, compliance is not happening. Inasmuch as this means operating license conditions are not being met, it is a mission-critical problem. Clearly, the company urgently needs a rigourous and integrated LMS or LXP.
The above scenario illustrates a general example, but these digital platforms also deliver very specific learning and training solutions. Consider another scenario: a mining enterprise has recently hired a newly-qualified geologist. She has exceptional digital skills and will bring innovative ideas to the exploration team. But, she needs rapid onboarding involving the company's ways of working, as well as formal certifications for heavy equipment usage. Simultaneously, her direct manager lacks her technology skills, so he needs training in that area. Further, the chief geologist has expressed a wish to upgrade his leadership skills in terms of both formal qualifications and informal team management techniques.
All these permutations can be designed into, and easily implemented within, an LXP. The new employee will receive personalised onboarding materials and heavy equipment training manuals; the manager will be prompted to undergo a series of customised digital skills tutorials; the LXP will 'push' information and learning options to the team leader and invite his enrolment in ongoing study. The algorithms will track engagement, refine accordingly, and monitor progress - with a transparent data trail for HR and the company's leadership. For compliance purposes this improves the entire organisation's understanding of the regulatory frameworks and the ability of individuals and teams to work according to the necessary modalities, be they legal, strategic, financial, or operational.
Risk management through data and systems
What this boils down to from a compliance perspective is superior risk management. And - with the possible exceptions of nuclear power and offshore oil and gas exploration - it's hard to think of an industry than needs risk management more than mining. From strategic risks such as geopolitical security, to business context issues involving ESG, through to operational risks including talent availability, skills and productivity, an LMS or LXP helps to systemise the approach to the various categories of risks and to put the necessary data in front of decision-makers to manage them, constantly.
The best risk mitigation is that which we don't even know about, because the risk doesn't materialise! Remember, a great LMS or LXP also helps to instil the appropriate culture, one that engrains an understanding of the need for compliance and pays attention to it. So what's happening in the background is due diligence, and excellent compliance.
This article only really touches upon the capabilities of next-generation Learning Management Systems. The new platforms and software capabilities make it easier and more cost-efficient to spread compliance throughout the organisation, whether through e-learning, the communication of standards to ensure consistency across a diverse operational geography, the sharing of learnings and best practices, or instant communication to solve immediate problems. And, above all, they help to instil accountability.
If your mining organisation is already using a digital learning platform, it's likely that your compliance is on track. If not, it's past time for you to implement a leading-edge LMS or LXP.
The business, the entire mining venture, depends upon it.
Interested in further discussing compliance issues in mining, and how risks can be mitigated? Contact me at lafras@iafrica.com