industry
1 November 2007
Last month President Thabo Mbeki ordered the Department of Minerals and
Energy to conduct an occupational health and safety audit at all mines. The
department has developed audit protocols that will address the scope of the
audit, the resource requirement, and consolidation and outcome of the audit
outcome.
The protocols are as follows: the audit of South African mines will be
divided into two streams:
1. Legal Audit
2. Technical Audit of certain installation and practices at mines.
The outcome of these audits will together give indication of the extent to
which mines comply with health and safety requirements, and will also help
mines develop programs of action to improve their health and safety.
The audit will broadly cover the topics as indicated but not limited to the
outlined details.
Scope of legal audit of mines
1. Design and maintenance
Scope: mine design with regard to the provision of healthy and safe working
conditions, Servicing and maintenance of all equipment and systems,
communication systems.
2. Legal appointments
Scope: statutory appointments and functions of the employer, managers,
engineers, occupational medical practitioners, occupational hygiene
practitioners and other statutory appointments as required in terms of the
MHSA.
3. Occupational health and safety policy
Scope: the content of the OHS policy, the employer's commitment signature
and how widely the policy is published on the mine, do all employees know of
its existence and contents.
4. Occupational health and safety risk management
Scope: an examination of the mine's baseline risk assessment on all
occupational health and safety hazards and significant risks. An examination of
issue based and continuous risk assessment outcomes. An examination of medical
surveillance systems and occupational hygiene measurements.
5. Training
Scope: an examination of employee training records in relation to health and
safety training as well as to their job functions. Training in relation to the
hazards and risks in their workplaces.
6. Health and safety representatives and committees
Scope: examine the existence of health and safety representatives and
committees, election of representatives and training of representatives.
7. Reporting
Scope: all statutory reports have been submitted e.g. accident and fatality
statistics, occupational hygiene returns, labour data etc.
8. Mandatory codes of practice
Scope: all required mandatory codes of practise have been compiled and
implemented full list available for the audit.
9. Explosives control
Scope: inventory control of all explosives that are received, stored, used
in the working places and the destruction of old explosives.
10. Water management
Scope: Storage and usage of water, mudrush risk, control of water in working
places, water quality for drinking purposes.
11. Public health and safety
Scope: Pollution emissions from the mine site, radioactive dusts, etc, water
contamination in rivers, streams etc, unprotected mine openings, complaints
from surrounding communities and how these are dealt with.
Scope of technical audit of mines
1. Shafts and shaft infrastructure
Scope: shafts, winders, ropes, surface infrastructure, mine infrastructure
such as second outlets, return airways, water handling pumping capability
etc.
2. Rockfalls and rockbursts
Scope: analysis of rockfalls, rockburst and seismic accidents, determine the
extent of knowledge and understanding of rock behaviour among frontline
supervisors, impact of organisational culture, seismic networks coverage,
sensitivity Support practices.
3. Rail bound and trackless mobile equipment
Scope: analysis of rock bound equipment accident, rail infrastructure
maintenance, rolling stock age, condition and maintenance.
4. Occupational health
Scope: quantify extent of occupational health problem in South Africa mines,
medical surveillance, occupational hygiene measurements, laboratory analysis,
data analysis and interpretation.
5. Effectiveness of MHSA legal sanctions
Scope: Injury reports, administrative fines
Enquiries:
Ms Bontle Mafuna
Chief Director Communication
Tel: 012 317 8086
Fax: 012 322 4954
Cell: 082 773 2388
E-mail: bontle.mafuna@dme.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
1 November 2007
