Island Gold's Employee Wellness Initiative

In January 2022, the team at Island Gold in Dubreuilville, Ontario, launched an Employee Wellness initiative. The first phase of this initiative focuses on providing on-site physical therapy services to the mining workforce, 7 days a week. This service is part of a new program to treat and prevent workplace injuries, and to improve employees’ overall physical health.

Our Island Gold Health & Safety team oversees the initiative. One team member commented that, "We recognize the impact our activities can have physically on our employees. We not only want to ensure we are supporting employees to treat and heal injuries, but also to provide them with support to prevent workplace injuries. Our physical therapists spend time every week underground, in the mill and in maintenance shops coaching employees on how to minimize any negative impacts their tasks may have on their body."

So far, the program has been successful, with a high utilization rate and positive employee engagement with the physical therapists.

Physical therapists also regularly attend safety huddles at the beginning of daily work shifts to promote the initiative, lead stretching exercises and provide tips for injury prevention.

According to one team member, the program was created in part because "it is good business. We understand that our employees’ wellness directly correlates with our success as a Company in the safe production of gold." 

 “The Employee Wellness initiative at Island Gold is another example of our commitment to the health and safety of our workforce, and it is positive to see the program’s success so far,” added Alamos Gold President and CEO John McCluskey . “Good mines and good people are the foundation of our growth, and across Alamos Gold we are investing in maintaining a safe, healthy work environment as part of our Home Safe Every Day program.” 

The Island Gold team has a vision to expand the program, and share best practices with other Alamos operations. They have completed an organizational wellness assessment to identify how our operation can better support the overall wellness of our employees. The program will eventually expand, and will focus on other aspects such as fatigue management and nutritional support to assist Alamos employees in their personal health and well-being and to foster a healthy and positive work environment.