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    At Vale we are committed to the physical and mental well-being of our employees, and this commitment cuts across our initiatives to promote employee health.

    Our health initiatives are aligned with both legal requirements and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global agenda across aspects such as: vaccination, sexually-transmitted diseases, support for pregnant mothers, women’s and men’s health, on-site physiotherapy, post-injury rehabilitation, employee support, prevention and treatment of substance abuse, and physical, cardiovascular, and mental health. ​
    To reduce employee exposure to health hazards, Vale has a set of global management guidelines on occupational hygiene and ergonomics, managing and developing occupational health programs, and setting medium-term risk reduction targets. ​

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    Periodic campaigns raise awareness and share health-related information with Vale employees and contractors. 

    In addition to annual safety and disease prevention weeks (SIPAT), we have a permanent calendar of programs and initiatives to address health issues and engage all employees and contractors around health and well-being. These initiatives include: 

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    MINAS por Mentes:
    An initiative focused on mental health (read more below).  
    Awareness Day:
    Each year, Vale suspends its operations worldwide for a day dedicated to discussions on health and safety and raising employee awareness about behaviors that affect their day-to-day lives. 
    Workplace risk prevention and occupational health control: 
    a mandatory program for employees, including regular health check-ups, prevention training, functional capacity assessments, and preventive measures. Vale also follows global standards on managing health risks, including aspects related to ergonomics and occupational hygiene. 
    Disability Prevention:

    our proactive approach aims to prevent incidents that could result in disability by establishing global guidelines on healthy workplace conditions and a cross-functional approach (health, human resources, and managers) involving multidisciplinary committees and the use of a common set of management metrics.  In addition, we monitor risk factors on three levels: i) Primary, involving collective risks; ii) Secondary, addressing employees at risk of absenteeism; and iii) Tertiary, for employees on sick leave or returning to work.  ​

    The leading causes of absenteeism, both in Brazil and globally, are musculoskeletal and mental disorders. These conditions, even when not directly work-related, can result in prolonged leave and prevent employees from returning to or remaining at work.  

    Mental health 

    MINAS por Mentes is a program designed to improve employees’ emotional health. We value individuals and the importance of healthy minds. It is essential that we deepen our understanding of the state of mental health and emotional well-being within the organization, as well as the primary underlying factors, both individual and organizational. 
    The program comprises both global and local initiatives. The acronym MINAS, meaning “mine” in Portuguese, stands for the five pillars of the program: Map, Interact, Normalize, Anchor, and Sustain. Based on these pillars, we develop and implement initiatives aimed at: 

    Map – identifying factors affecting emotional well-being and related signs and symptoms, and encouraging early help-seeking as a preventative measure. ​

    Interact – responding to signs and symptoms and addressing individual and collective mental health conditions through programs and prevention guidelines (PGS3788). ​

    Naturalize – Creating an environment where people feel secure discussing their emotional health, supporting one another, and reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues.  ​

    Anchor – encouraging employees to seek help and facilitating access to programs supporting well-being and healthy habits so that emotional health becomes an integral part of their daily life at Vale. ​

    Sustain – ensuring the sustainability of individual and collective emotional health initiatives and applying VPS (Vale Management System) principles, particularly the underlying key behaviors. Each of us is responsible for one another, and as a company we put life first in everything we do. 

    Strategy for reducing the use of potentially harmful substances

    We have a plan in place for reducing the use of harmful substances in our operations. This plan sets out requirements and guidelines on eliminating, controlling and minimizing the risk of occupational illness and injuries, environmental impacts and property damage caused by chemical substances.
    The plan is supported by tone from the top and clearly established targets for reducing chemical risks from 2024. Our goal is to achieve a 50% reduction in exposure to health-hazardous agents in the workplace by 2025. In 2019 we recorded 23,000 incidents and in 2022 we reduced that figure to 13,000, a 43% reduction. We are now working toward a target to further reduce exposures to 11,500 by 2025. 
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    In a global survey of our business units, we developed an inventory of all chemical substances which, even if not legally prohibited or restricted, have the potential to endanger people's health through acute or chronic exposure or contamination of soil, air, and water.
    We then established seven monitoring groups and developed a strategy to curtail the usage of these substances. We have since explored alternative chemical compositions available in the market that meet our technical specifications. In certain cases, we may need to work with suppliers to develop entirely new products. 
    Vale’s forbidden and restricted substances lists are continuously updated and can be accessed on our website under the Suppliers section: 
    Among the products that have already been phased out is the refrigerant gas Forane 141-B (an ozone-depleting substance), which has been replaced with sustainable internal cleaning fluids for refrigeration systems.
     We have also transitioned to exclusively electronic detonators for blasting operations and replaced liquid chlorine with sodium hypochlorite in the cobalt oxidation process at the Port Colborne refinery in Canada, after identifying operational risks. 
    Until we have fully replaced or eliminated all harmful substances and products in our operations, we will continue to follow the established guidelines to mitigate chemical hazards and environmental impacts. Our strategies are based on the concepts and requirements of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). This improves safety and accurate classification of physical, human health, and environmental hazards, while establishing clear standards on communication. In addition, we are currently adapting the principles of Process Safety Management (PSM) to our mining operations, borrowing from the extensive body of knowledge on safety in the chemical industry.  ​