Minerals and Energy, at the press conference to release the Presidential audit
report on safety in the mining industry, Centurion
2 February 2009
Thabo Gazi, Chief Inspector of Mines
Comrade Frans Baleni, General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers
(Num) and his delegation from labour
Mr Sipho Nkosi or Mzolisi Diliza from the chamber of mines
Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the media
Since 1996 the government has come up with a battery of legislative pieces
and regulations to curb the fatalities and injuries that have characterised our
mining industry for more than hundred years. Although these efforts have
yielded some positive results, the situation in the mining industry still
leaves much to be desired.
With these efforts, it was hoped that the number of widows and orphans
occasioned by the mining industry will be a thing of the past. However, this
was not to be.
For instance, in October 2007, three thousand two hundred workers were
trapped underground for 42 hours. Had these workers not been brought to safety,
this event could have resulted in the worst mining disaster in the history of
our country with far reaching implications for this important sector of our
economy.
This unfortunate incident prompted former President Thabo Mbeki to order us,
as the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) to conduct a country-wide health
and safety audit of (high risk) mines to determine the levels of compliance
with legal requirements as set out in the Mine Health and Safety Act of
1996.
After months of hard work, I am particularly pleased that President Kgalema
Motlanthe has given us the go-ahead to release the report.
If one looks at the statistics, they do not paint a particularly rosy
picture of the state of affairs in this important sector of our economy. In the
past three years, unsafe working conditions have led directly to the death of
two hundred mine workers annually. This is in addition to the almost five
thousand people who are also injured annually. Some of these injuries are so
severe that they result in amputations of limb that translate into the loss of
the ability to earn income thereby undermining the standard of living of
breadwinners and the consequent increase in medical bills.
The following table gives the breakdown of the health and safety audit
results.
Audit themes: Mine design
Gold: 73
Platinum: 69
Coal: 71
Diamond: 71
Other: 67
Overall percent: 70
Audit themes: Statutory reports
Gold: 73
Platinum: 75
Coal: 70
Diamond: 59
Other: 55
Overall percent: 66
Audit themes: Legal appointments
Gold: 80
Platinum: 72
Coal: 77
Diamond: 78
Other: 69
Overall percent: 75
Audit themes: Safety risk management
Gold: 71
Platinum: 69
Coal: 73
Diamond: 64
Other: 61
Overall percent: 68
Audit themes: Occupational health and safety policy
Gold: 61
Platinum: 60
Coal: 62
Diamond: 58
Other: 55
Overall percent: 59
Audit themes: Health risk management
Gold: 53
Platinum: 62
Coal: 66
Diamond: 47
Other: 52
Overall percent: 56
Audit themes: Codes of practice
Gold: 69
Platinum: 67
Coal: 68
Diamond: 60
Other: 45
Overall percent: 62
Audit themes: Occupational health and safety training
Gold: 74
Platinum: 71
Coal: 70
Diamond: 59
Other: 57
Overall percent: 66
Audit themes: Health and safety representatives and committees
Gold: 73
Platinum: 69
Coal: 67
Diamond: 64
Other: 57
Overall percent: 66
Audit themes: Mine explosives control
Gold: 66
Platinum: 58
Coal: 69
Diamond: 81
Other: 77
Overall percent: 70
Audit themes: Mine water management
Gold: 74
Platinum: 71
Coal: 70
Diamond: 74
Other: 69
Overall percent: 72
Audit themes: Public health and safety
Gold: 69
Platinum: 60
Coal: 73
Diamond: 71
Other: 50
Overall percent: 65
Audit themes: Overall percentage
Gold: 70
Platinum: 67
Coal: 70
Diamond: 66
Other: 60
Overall percent: 66
The mining industry has achieved an overall score of 66 percent compliance
with the relevant requirements of the Mine Health and Safety Act. These audits
have indicated that there are a lot of gaps in the safety standards in the
mining industry. We are, therefore, calling on all the stakeholders involved in
this sector to take the findings and the recommendations of the report very
seriously. This is the case, particularly, in view of the fact that the audits
were structured simply to establish whether or not there was compliance with
legal requirements.
Employers have to ask themselves if particular establishments have achieved
eighty percent (full compliance less twenty percent) compliance, what then are
the implications for the workers on the workplace who are drilling a stop face,
a tunnel, removing blasted rock or doing any other work at that particular
mine?
Four critical issues stand out. These are showing undesirable results:
* mine design (70 percent),
(safer shaft installation, communication, backup power and secondary
outlets)
* safety and health risk management (68 percent and 56 percent)
(risk assessment and implementing controls)
* health and safety training (66 percent) particularly that of health and
safety representatives.
(training of managers in occupational health and safety (OHS), inspectors and
OHS representatives).
There are comprehensive recommendations in the report that addresses all the
established structures responsible for mine health and safety: Mine Health and
Safety Council (MHSC), employer, labour, departments and Mining Qualifications
Authority (MQA).
On behalf of government let me commend this report to the country and urge
all stakeholders involved in this industry to internalise and implement the
recommendations contained in the report with the ultimate purpose of ensuring
that we improve the safety conditions in our mining industry.
In closing, let us use the report to build on the significant improvement in
safety statistics experienced last year where there were 168 deaths compared to
220 in 2007. This has set a new benchmark for our mining industry which marks
an improvement of 24 percent. This we can achieve.
Issued by: Department of Minerals and Energy
2 February 2009
Source: Department of Minerals and Energy (http://www.dme.gov.za/)
