B Sonjica: Mine Health and Safety Council Summit

5 October 2007

Programme director
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Members
Director-General of Minerals and Energy
Leaders of employee and employer organisations
Management and Executives of private and public institutions
Members of tripartite structures
Members of the press
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this, the fifth Mine Health
and Safety Council (MHSC) Tripartite Summit, this year also marks the 10th year
of the enactment of the Mine Health and Safety Act, Act 29 of 1996 (MHSA). The
theme of this summit is 'Working together towards zero harm' and it is apt as
is embodies the spirit of tripartism on which the MHSA is based. The health and
safety of our mineworkers is a collective effort of all the stakeholders i.e.
the state, employers and employees, although the primary responsibility of
ensuring healthy and safe working environments remains the obligation of the
employer.

Despite the many strides in regulatory reform that has been made with the
promulgation of the Mine Health and Safety Act and the development of outcomes
based regulations, we are still dealing with some of the legacies of South
Africa's past. The impact of many discriminatory practices which were allowed
by the legislation such as disproportionate compensation payouts and benefits
to black and white miners, inferior housing poor working conditions and a
general neglect of health and safety are still evident.

As most of us here today will remember from the Gala dinner last night that
we celebrated the health and safety achievements of certain mines, we would
have also realised that their dedication and efforts to ensure the health and
safety of their employees was done over an extended period of time. Let us
briefly review the long path that got us here today.

The Leon Commission of Inquiry of 1994 is the most recent commission to
examine occupational health and safety in the South African mining industry.
The Commission found that over 69 000 mineworkers had died in the period
between 1900 and 1994 and more than a million were seriously injured. In terms
of occupational health the Commission found:

* tuberculosis rates of 58 per thousand after 15 years of exposure
* shaft sinkers and stoppers working 8 000 shifts have more than 30%
probability of developing silicosis
* 50 to 60% of coal miners developed coal miner's pneumoconiosis after 40 years
of exposure
* 40 to 80% of workers involved in drilling operations have hearing problems
after 10 years of exposure.

The main focus of occupational health activity on the mines prior to the
Leon Commission was on compensation for disease rather than prevention. The
applicable mining law, namely the Minerals Act focused predominantly on the
safety issues in the mining industry with no specific provisions for promoting
occupational health.

Also, an interestingly enough, the Minister of Minerals and Energy in 1995,
Mr RF (Pik) Botha, delivered an address to the Association of Mine Managers of
South Africa's Thinksafe Seminar on the Human Factor in Safety, I would like to
re-iterate some of his observations as they do have a bearing on our
deliberations today. Minister Botha commented on the findings of the Leon
Commission as follows:
"The Leon Commission observes that from the turn of the century to 1993 an
average of 742 miners was killed per year. Over a million were seriously
injured, equal to an average of almost 11 000 annually. Despite all that has
been done in the realm of safety, the annual death rate has only dropped to 680
per year over the last decade (1985 to 1995), a reduction of just over 8%.
Since we currently produce about 600 tons of gold per year, this means that
each ton of gold produced in South Africa costs an average of more or less one
human life and 12 seriously injured miners." Also worthy of note was the
comment on the common excuse that employees are generally responsible for
accidents.

The Commission refers to "the tendency of many senior mining officials to
attribute South Africa's poor mine safety record to physical and human factors
beyond the industry's control". "The recurring management apology," it says,
"when paraphrased, claims that the systems in place are fine and the accidents
are due to human errors." This is an accusation which the Commission directs
inter alia against you (referring to the mine managers) and is therefore one
which we should take seriously.

It is a given that, as the Commission puts it, "the general level of
education is dismayingly low." The question is: what do we do about it? The
answer would seem to be to offer stepped-up adult educational courses and
training beyond the mere needs of functioning in a mine." This was the past we
have come from where unfortunately employees were generally blamed for mine
accidents and production could be measured in lives per ton mined?

These deficiencies as highlighted by the Leon Commission provided the
impetus for the following recommendations:
* drafting of a new Mine Health and Safety Act to provide the comprehensive
legal framework for creating a health and safe working environment
* restructuring of the enforcement agency
* promulgating of regulations and protective measures to protect the health and
safety of workers including occupational hygiene, medical surveillance, rock
fall and rock burst and programmes with specific reference to
tuberculosis
* restructuring of research institutions and health information systems;
and
* ensuring appropriate training and certification of all workers in the
industry

The Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) came into effect on 15 January 1997
replacing the Minerals Act 50 of 1991 as the legal basis for regulating
occupational health and safety in the South African mines. The MHSA was enacted
after extensive tri-partite consultation process involving representatives of
government, employers and employee unions. As a result of the high level of
participation in it's drafting, the Act enjoys substantial legitimacy among
employers and workers in the industry and is consistent with International
Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.

The MHSA established a number of tri-partite institutions for ongoing
consultation between the employers, employees and the government. The Mine
Health and Safety Council (MHSC) was established to advise the Minister of
Minerals and Energy on all aspects of safety and health in the mines.
The Mine Qualifications Authority (MQA) sets educational and training standards
and qualifications for the mining industry as part of the framework established
by the South African Qualifications Act.

The event we are participating in today is mandated by section 43(e) of the
Mine Health and Safety Act (1996) which requires that the Mine Health and
Safety Council (MHSC) holds a biennial summit 'to review the state of health
and safety at mines.' This review of the health and safety performance of the
mining industry and also their achievements towards the milestones set at the
MHSC Summit of 2003 will be done by the chairperson of the MHSC, Mr Thabo
Gazi.

As per the programme for the day, after the chairperson has done the review
of the industry performance, the principals from the tripartite stakeholders
will have an opportunity to comment on the performance and trends indicated
during their leadership dialogue session. Apart from the leadership dialogue,
every participant here today will have the opportunity to provide input into
the discussions and resolutions that are taken through your active
participation in the round table discussion sessions. I urge you to make full
use of this session to make your voice heard, complaints and compliments are
also welcome.

Before I close, I would like to share some my concerns and present some of
my challenges to the MHSC
1. I am concerned that after 10 years of the MHSA there still seems to be
different interpretations of what constitutes a risk assessment; this is often
evidenced through generic codes of practice that span an entire mining group
rather than being specific to a mine or working place.
2. We are also finding that in some cases risk assessments are done with a
pre-determined outcome e.g. when costly control measures would be required;
risk assessments are tailored to show that such measures are not
required.
3. I am concerned about the shortage of skills in all disciplines required to
ensure the health and safety of our mineworkers.
4. Despite the Mini-Indaba on Seismicity and rock burst being held on the seven
of September 2007, I am concerned that we are still continuing to have
accidents through this agency that claims the lives or our miners, the four
fatalities at the Mponeng mine of 28 September 2007 re-iterates my need for
urgent action.
5. I would like to challenge the mining industry to ensure that relevant
research results from Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC),
other local or international research agencies and outcomes of investigations
and inquiries are assessed and implemented without delay to ensure that the
mineworkers reap the benefit of a healthier and safer working
environment.
6. The outcomes of the Mini-Indaba on Seismicity and Rockbursts held on 7
September 2007 and the challenges presented there by myself are actioned
without delay.
7. The issue of HIV and AIDS presents one of the greatest health challenges to
the mining industry in South Africa. Combined exposures to occupational health
hazards such as silica bearing dust, HIV and TB hasten the onset of disease and
increase the level of risk associated with each individual hazard. The
Occupational Health of mineworkers has sadly been neglected in the past, my
previous comments refer to this and due to the long latency periods before
diseases manifest themselves, I would like to see focussed long term research
programmes being developed, conducted and the results thereof being supplied to
the MHSC and the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate for inclusion into the
policy development programme e.g. as minimum standards.
8. All health and safety research must become gender sensitive, as time
progresses more and more women will join the mining industry from the boardroom
to the rock face, we must ensure that our workplaces are engineered to cater
for women.
9. I would, finally, like to challenge the tripartite stakeholders to do
whatever is necessary to ensure that the milestones we have voluntarily set for
ourselves is achieved within our time frames failure is not an option!

As I thank you for your participation today and wish you well on your
deliberations, I also leave you with the challenges and some of my concerns,
may it form an integral part of your discussions.

Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
5 October 2007