https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Individual risk-taking cause of most mine deaths – Carolus

6th May 2013

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Most mine injuries and deaths are the result of individual risk-taking behaviour, says Gold Fields nonexecutive chairperson Cheryl Carolus.

Carolus, who has been a member of the Gold Fields’ safety and health committee since 2009, spoke to Mining Weekly Online in a wide-ranging interview, in which she also praised advances in combating HIV/Aids, as well as the successful grasping of the conflict-minerals nettle by the gold and diamond sectors.

She says that the extraordinary propensity of South Africans to take risks is translating into death and destruction.

“When you look at it at post-mortem enquiry level, you think how on earth does someone do that?

“I have sat on our safety and health committee in the four years that I have been on the board and, by far, most of the injuries and the deaths are attributed to individual risk-taking behaviour; and that’s a cultural thing that we need to change. It’s that risk-taking behaviour that’s our biggest safety issue,” says Carolus.

The one-time R89-a-month teacher cites the example of a mineworker who was killed trying to retrieve a packet of cigarettes that had inadvertently fallen from his pocket.

“Now, as you go into the lift to go underground, there’s a sign that tells you that taking cigarettes underground is forbidden. Also, you change before you go underground, so it becomes a very conscious act to put your cigarettes in your overall pocket. Now he’s dead.”

But there is better news at the health end of the health-and-safety spectrum in that success is being achieved in combating HIV/Aids, which is proving to mining houses that doing the right thing yields benefits, in this case reduced absenteeism, lower mortality rates and a greater return on skills development.

Carolus has been part of South Africa’s long-haul towards building an HIV/Aids-free generation, not only through her involvement in the mining sector, but also by being on the board of Soul City, the health and development communication body.

She reports that mining companies no longer test for HIV/Aids in isolation but stage wellness days where people are encouraged to know not only their HIV status but also their cholesterol, blood pressure and general health status, across the board.

“People don’t die of Aids anymore but live with HIV in the same way as they live with high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

“Our country has come a long way and we should give a lot of credit to this current Cabinet and Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

“One of the best things for me is that we just don't have mothers and babies dying at childbirth anymore because of HIV/Aids,” says Carolus, who adds that the achievement has come at a fraction of the anticipated cost.

“It’s a very good example to all corporates in South Africa that doing the right thing is good for business,” she says.

Another source of pride for the former South African High Commissioner to London is that both Gold Fields and De Beers, in their respective gold and diamond sectors, have advanced the conflict-free minerals ideal; Gold Fields through the World Gold Council’s conflict-free gold standard and De Beers through the Kimberley Process.

The chair of the JSE- and NYSE-listed Gold Fields, which employs 9 600 people and which has a market capitalisation of R50-billion, has just returned from New York, where she attended a board meeting of the International Crisis Group (ICG), a nongovernmental organisation that is committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict, including minerals-funded conflict.

The ICG board, on which Carolus serves along with some former heads of State and four-star generals, briefs the UN Security Council yearly and the UN secretary-general personally on conflict resolution.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.072 0.125s - 162pq - 8rq
Subscribe Now