Valued Mining Industry Stakeholders
Members of the media
Let me take this opportunity first and foremost to convey my sincere and heartfelt condolences to families, relatives and friends of all mineworkers that have regrettably lost their lives in the mining sector.
To pay respect to the deceased mine workers, may I request that we all observe a moment of silence.
We also acknowledge the critical role that the workers, unions, business and the media continue to play in raising awareness on issues of health and safety at our mines.
1. General overview on mine health and safety performance for 2014
There has been a marked improvement in health and safety in the sector over the past twenty years, as result of renewed focus by the department as well as collaboration with key stakeholders.
The presence of our key stakeholders at this briefing today bears testimony to the importance of health and safety matters for all of us, individually and collectively. The health and safety of workers is crucial to the sustainability of the mining sector in the longer term, hence our steely resolve to implement enforcement measures in terms of the law.
You would recall that in the period before 1994, the mining industry used to report astronomically high fatalities, injuries and occupational diseases. For instance, the sector reported, on average more than 800 fatalities and 18 000 injuries respectively per annum over two decades prior to 1994.
Since 1994, these numbers have steadily decreased. For instance, there has been an 86% reduction on all mine fatalities from 615 in 1993 to 84 during 2014.
The breakdown of fatalities per commodity during the year 2014 is as follows: Gold (44), Platinum (15), Coal (9) and other mines (16). The “other mines” category includes diamonds, chrome, copper and iron ore.
Despite the improvement, I want to convey my serious concern that we continue to experience loss of life in the sector. It is with deepest regret and sadness that so early in 2015, seven mineworkers have already lost their lives. On behalf of the government, I once again express my sincere condolences to their families and loved ones.
The statistics also suggest that major gold and platinum mines are the main contributors to accidents and the subsequent loss of life. This is regrettable, as we believe that these mines should be at the forefront in terms of the appropriate systems and expertise to enhance health and safety.
2. Specific highlights of 2014
Lowest ever fatalities recorded in the mining sector
It is encouraging to note that the 2014 mine fatalities are the lowest ever recorded in the history of mining in South Africa, continuing a trend that started in 2013, where the mining sector recorded fatalities of less than a hundred, when the trend has historically been over 100 fatalities per annum.
The 2014 fatalities have also been reduced by 10% compared to 93 reported during 2013. The month of December has traditionally been the worst month in terms of the number of fatalities at our mines. However, this time around the lowest fatalities ever recorded for a similar period were reported during December 2014, with 2 casualties regrettably reported, a drastic improvement from previous years.
The reduction of fatalities in Platinum and Other mines
The number of fatalities reported by platinum mines reduced by 44% from 27 fatalities in 2013 to 15 fatalities in 2014, whilst the “other mines” sector also recorded a reduction in fatalities of 27%, from 22 to 16 fatalities, year on year.
The number of fatalities reported by gold mines during 2014 regrettably increased by 23% from 37 to 44 fatalities, while fatalities at coal mines increased by 29%, from 7 to 9 fatalities.
Although there has been some regression in 2014 with the coal sector, the coal and platinum sectors are in fact comparing favourably, in terms of the fatality rates per million hours worked, with the respective best-performing sectors in other countries such as the United States and Canada.
More Mining Companies going for more than 12 months, fatality-free 4
There are now more mining companies going for more than 12 months without fatalities. These are amongst others, Northam Platinum, De Beers, BHP Billiton, Anglo Thermal Coal, Total Coal South Africa, Kuyasa Mining, Glencore (Coal), Coal of Africa, Eskom Ingula Pumped Storage, Lafarge, PPC, AfriSam, Alexkor, Petra Diamonds and Trans Hex Mining. Lonmin, whilst we note that they generally were not operational for five months, have also gone for more than 12 months without a fatality.
We would like to congratulate the companies and their mineworkers. We hope that their achievements will serve as an encouragement to the sector, as we do believe that it is possible for other companies to reach such milestones.
Major contributors of fatalities
Major contributors of fatalities in descending order were: “General classification types of fatalities” (35%), falls of ground (30%) and transportation fatalities (17%). “General classification types of accidents” include: inhaling dangerous fumes, being struck by an object and falling from height.
In terms of safety, it is also worth noting that fall of ground accidents have historically been the leading cause of death at our mines. However, the general accidents are now the main cause of fatalities.
There has been a 22% reduction in the number of actual fall of ground fatalities from 32 in 2013 to 25 in 2014. Similarly, there has been a 55% reduction in the number of transportation fatalities from 31 in 2013 to 14 in 2014.
Improvement in the number of worker injuries
The number of mine injuries has reduced by about 18% from three thousand one hundred and twenty three (3123) in 2013 to two thousand five hundred and sixty nine (2569) in 2014. Although this is the lowest ever reported, the Department is still greatly concerned about the high number of injuries reported at our mines because the majority of these injuries are not new, but are mainly as a result of repeat accidents.
Health
All mines are required to submit Annual Medical Reports in terms of the provisions of the Mine Health and Safety Act. The reports indicate that the number of occupational diseases reduced from eighteen thousand three hundred and seventy one (18 371) during 2003 to six thousand eight hundred and ten (6810) in 2013, and mainly with Pulmonary TB and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss over the period.
Regrettably there has been an increase in the number of Pulmonary TB cases reported between 2012 and 2013 - from two thousand eight hundred and thirty eight (2 838) to three thousand two hundred and fifty five (3 255).
Also, there was a slight increase in the number of Silicosis cases from one thousand four hundred and twenty (1 420) in 2012 to one thousand four hundred and thirty cases (1 430) in 2013.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss cases also increased from one thousand and seventy five (1 075) during 2012 to one thousand three hundred and eighty nine (1 389) in 2013. The gold sector continues to report a high number of occupational diseases than all the other sectors.
The Department continues to enforce and ensure compliance with monitoring of occupational diseases, TB and HIV programmes, implementation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) as well as the investigation of medical cases at mines. The poor implementation of health programmes at some mines remains a major concern.
I would like to encourage the sector to pay special attention to health matters, as recently there is no noticeable improvement and they are the main cause of loss of life in the sector.
During the year 2014, mining companies reported for the first time to the Department on the HIV and TB programmes which they have implemented. This information will assist the Department with interventions in awareness, prevention and treatment, as well as in assessing the impact of HIV on other occupational diseases, in order to fully understand the disease burden in South African mines.
I would like to encourage more companies to promote HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) campaigns to increase the number of mineworkers that are tested for HIV, and screened for TB and Chronic Diseases.
3. Health and safety improvement measures
A number of initiatives have been embarked upon to enhance health and safety in the mining sector. These include the following:
Stakeholder Collaboration
The Department will continuously engage its social partners through MIGDETT (the Mining Industry Growth, Development and Employment Task Team), Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC), Mining Qualification Authority (MQA) and bilateral meetings to ensure that mine health and safety in the industry is prioritised.
It is through the Department’s commitment to collaborate with all the stakeholders that there is also improvement regarding health and safety in the mining sector over the past two decades. In this regard, the Department of Mineral Resources together with the Mine Health and Safety Council hosted a Mine Health and Safety Tripartite Summit on the 18 and 19 November 2014. The main objective of the Summit was for the tripartite stakeholders (i.e. State, Organised Labour and Business) to review the health and safety performance of the mining sector.
The stakeholders subsequently agreed on the new health and safety commitments with clear milestones which will ensure that every mineworker ultimately returns from work unharmed every day.
The following commitments were made:
- Elimination of fatalities and injuries;
- Rehabilitation of mine workers injured in the line of duty;
- Elimination of occupational lung diseases including silicosis, Pneumoconiosis and Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis;
- Elimination of Noise Induced Hearing Loss;
- Reduction and prevention of TB, HIV and AIDS infections in line with the NationalS trategic Plan;
- Integrate and simplify compensation systems;
- Implementation of the approved Culture Transformation Framework including on women in mining concerns; and
- Launch and implement the Centre of Excellence which will focus on research and capacity building of mineworkers.
The department will continuously collaborate with the social partners to ensure that the Summit commitments are implemented. With regards to compensation issues, the Department will continue collaborating with the Departments of Health and Labour as well as the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the workers are being adequately assisted. As I’ve mentioned during the Summit, five mining companies have formed an industry group to tackle compensation issues related to lung diseases that some workers contract as a result of their occupation. There has been some progress made which the employers will later deliberate on.
Also, TEBA announced at the Summit that they will henceforth ensure that information is made available for free which will facilitate the assistance of workers and ex-workers on matters which amongst others pertains to compensation.
Skills Development and Education
Skills development and education are key in improving on the triple challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty faced by our country. Hence, the department is collaborating with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and other stakeholders through the MQA to improve on skills development of the youth and mine workers.
Training of Health and Safety Reps and Shop Stewards using accredited institutions is progressing well. The MQA is implementing programmes to provide learners in townships and rural mining areas with core mathematics and physical science, so that they can pursue professional and artisan skills in the mining sector.
These initiatives are being strengthened by career guidance programmes to encourage learners to make informed choices in growing the pool of learners who are successful in matric and pursue mining careers, and these learners are awarded MQA bursaries annually. Bursaries are also issued for studies in the engineering fields such as mining, electrical, mechanical and metallurgy.
Other skills programmes at the MQA include artisan development; improving the participation of women in mining; as well as skills required for jewelery making.
Mine Health and Safety Act Amendment With regards to the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), the Department has embarked on a process of reviewing and refining the Act to ensure that we employ regulatory best practice relating to the impact that mining activities have on the health and safety of mineworkers and affected communities.
In this regard, the review of the MHSA seeks to, amongst others, strengthen enforcement provisions, streamline the administrative processes, reinforce offences and penalties, remove ambiguities in certain definitions and expressions and to harmonize the Act with other laws, in particular the MPRDA.
The department is currently finalising the consultation process with the relevant stakeholders and thereafter the department will consider the inputs from the stakeholders, revise the Amendment Bill and table it in Parliament in due course. Our efforts are to keep the South African mining environment safe and healthy to work in, whilst at the same time positioning our country as a competitive and attractive mining jurisdiction.
Monitoring compliance and enforcing legal provisions
In order to monitor and enforce compliance to health and safety measures at mines, group audits and inspections are conducted, which focus mainly on the effectiveness of control measures that have been put in place to prevent rock falls, rock burst and transport equipment accidents. The audits evaluate mine management systems for preventing exposure of employees to noise and dust (including silica dust) which could result in workers suffering from noise-induced hearing loss and silicosis.
As part of the audits, mines’ TB, HIV and AIDS programmes are being evaluated to ensure that there is an improvement. The department’s officials are also checking whether the mines are complying with the Mining Charter commitments for improving living conditions of employees and conversion of single sex hostels, as it has been determined through research that poor living conditions also exacerbate Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other health and safety concerns.
Capacity to Monitor Compliance
The Department is working together with the MQA and the Department of Higher Education and Training in placing bursars, interns and students at various universities and companies so that they can form part of the professionals in training for future engineers, environmental scientists, as well as surveyors who can help considerably in boosting the internal capacity of the department.
This will also assist in dealing with our challenge of our ability to attract and retain inspectors. In this regard the department has, in collaboration with the MQA and mining companies, embarked on a learner inspector programme where approximately 50 graduates have been placed at various mines, on a two yearly basis, to undergo experiential training which will help them to study further and become fully-qualified inspectors.
Health and Safety of Women
There has been a welcomed increase of women participating in the mining sector since the promulgation of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 28 of 2002. However, I am deeply disturbed by reported incidents of women experiencing sexual harassment and inhumane treatment by fellow workers in their underground workplaces. I would like to appeal to all the stakeholders, to ensure that there should be interventions implemented to prevent the intimidation of women miners.
There should also be more attention given to the health and safety of women in the mining sector. Hence, the mining sector should continue to take appropriate measures to ensure that women have safe and dignified working environment. The personal protective equipment (PPE) available for use in the mines does not fit women workers as most PPE is designed based on the male body structure.
In this regard, we welcome the research conducted through the Mine Health and Safety Council and expect that the implementation of the recommendations should assist the sector to provide appropriate and suitable PPE for women in mining. The Council has also commenced with further research which will also assist the sector in continuously improving on the health and safety of women.
In conclusion, the department will continue to work together with our social partners to ensure that every mineworker ultimately returns from work unharmed every day.
I thank you.
