A Pound of Cure for the Kids

In April 2006, after noticing an associated risk between lost time accidents and physical fitness, Tom Stuffco, the mill superintendent and Brian Ledgerwood, the mill ops general foreman at the Kemess mine in north-central British Columbia, decided something needed to be done. With the help of senior occupational health co-ordinator Sonja Reschke, RN, they developed the Kemess Mill Fitness Challenge, with the slogan, “Achieving Excellence–One Ounce at a Time”. They felt that initiating a three-month physical fitness competition in the mill would be the ideal way to improve safety performance, encourage healthier lifestyles and improve morale.

The focus of the challenge would be weight loss, smoking cessation and participation in physical activities, with the heavier weighting of points on the weight loss and smoking cessation. Because weight loss is not an accurate predictor of a person’s health, the focus would be on reducing the percentage of body fat, which is achieved through sensible eating and physical activity.

A detailed information package including web-based resources was developed for the employees. General manager Maurice Ethier was approached with the final concept for his approval and support. The hope was for a $1,000 cash prize payout for the winning team, but Ethier countered with $1,200 per person for the winning team! Ethier felt it was a sound investment, as one lost time accident costs more than running the program for a whole year.

The challenge commenced on July 1 with a total of seven teams, each with five participants. The team approach would help people maintain focus while allowing physically fit individuals to compete by serving as role models for the rest of the team. Morale increased as well as the team camaraderie, during the competiton. People would be dragged away from poker games by their teammates to go to the gym, leaving behind their winnings. One team had the catering company bake cheesecakes to offer the other teams, a little “Best of Luck on your Weight Loss Endeavours” cake. Word of the Fitness Challenge began filtering off property as well, with interest being expressed by other non-mining organizations.

By the end, the seven teams collectively lost 236 pounds, or you might say the mill managed to “downsize” by one employee.

Reschke reviewed the program with Ethier, speaking about the success of the Mill Fitness Challenge and proposing going site-wide with it starting in October 2006. After some reflection, Ethier felt there should be an additional incentive. The company would donate matching funds in the names of the winning team members to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. All that was needed now was a new slogan.

We all know that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. The employee’s ounce of prevention through proper diet and exercise would now equal a pound of cure for kids at the Children’s Hospital.

Kemess mine and Northgate are committed to the health of their employees through fitness program initiatives. They are also committed to the children of British Columbia, who are after all British Columbia’s greatest resource and potentially our future geologists, engineers, metallurgists, miners, tradespeople and support staff. For that reason, they will continue to donate matching funds in the names of all the winning participants to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation at the end of each Fitness Challenge.

Here’s a new twist. In 2007, Kemess invites other mines in the province to participate in a mining fitness challenge. Anyone interested should contact Sonja Reschke for the information needed to launch a Fitness Challenge Program within their own organization.

Sonja Reschke, R.N., is senior occupational health co-ordinator at Kemess mine, and can be reached at 604-639-8547 or sreschke@kemess.com.