In line with the Minerals Council South Africa’s yearly day of health and safety on July 17, the council on July 21 published its Health and Safety in Mining Position Paper, which examines health and safety in South Africa’s mining industry.

According to the paper, the industry – which is complex, technical and often labour-intensive – experienced a 92% overall decline in the number of yearly fatalities between 1993 and 2019.

In general, the South African mining industry, which employs about half-a-million people, is a risky and hazardous environment. According to the paper, “mining requires rigorous training, absolute vigilance and unfailing adherence to health and safety standards and procedures.”

Of the country’s mining workforce, the council estimates that between five and ten people are ultimately supported by each miner and, therefore, the loss of one life “carries with it an economic impact that can be felt as much as tenfold”.

In this regard, the paper asserts the council’s position that efforts to reduce miners’ exposure to risks and hazards, to prevent and treat a number of occupational diseases, and above all to eliminate fatalities, must be an abiding priority for South Africa’s mining industry.

The Minerals Council, in its role to unite and represent mining and exploration companies operating in South Africa, states that it is committed to the aspiration of zero harm.

“In everything it does, [the council] aims to ensure that every mine employee returns from work unharmed at the end of every day.” The council sets out to achieve this by working closely with its members, as well as its tripartite partners of government and organised labour, whose input and support is invaluable.

Over time, the council’s efforts have paid off with figures from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy pointing to a drop of 66% in the injury frequency rate between 1993 and 2019. During this time, the injury rate fell from 7.14 incidents per million hours, to 2.68 incidents per million hours.

In terms of health, the total number of reported occupational diseases declined by 66% between 2008 and 2019, and 23% between 2017 and 2018.

According to the council, these improvements in health and safety are the collective result of numerous programmes, initiatives and collaborative bodies that were established with the aspiration of zero harm.

EYE ON ZERO HARM

Between 2017 and 2019, the Minerals Council launched a number of health and safety measures and initiatives. These included the 2018 inaugural National Day of Health and Safety and the 2019 Khumbul’ekhaya CEO-led strategy on health and safety.

However, the council also notes that, in 2017, health and safety statistics regressed for the first time in ten years, with a 17% year-on-year increase in fatalities. This, says the council, galvanised the mining industry into action, with the council immediately initiating a number of new health and safety measures.

These were largely undertaken through the CEO Zero Harm Forum and included intense scrutiny of the major causes of accidents, sharing of good practise protocols and additional research which was conducted by the 1996-established Mine Health and Safety Council.

The council’s position paper also highlights that the 1996 Mine Health and Safety Act was developed for overall regulation and safeguarding of the health and safety of mine employees and mine-affected communities.

The paper also emphasises the importance of the 2008-established Mining Industry Occupational Safety and Health (Mosh) Learning Hub’s role in helping companies learn from pockets of excellence in the industry. Through the Mosh system – which is the largest programme initiated by the council in the past decade – companies and individual operations have adopted leading practices to reduce health and safety risks.

In relation to developing health and safety skills, the paper points out that the Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) plays a critical role through capacity development and process improvement. The MQA is mandated to ensure that the mining industry has a sufficient number of competent people who have been trained to undertake healthy and safe production.

In 2015, the council established Masoyise iTB – a three-year project aimed at responding to the high rates of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV in the mining industry. Masoyise iTB, which means, “let’s beat TB”, was a multistakeholder initiative that included representatives from various trade unions, government and other organisations.

Masoyise iTB has continued beyond 2018 as the Masoyise Health Programme (Masoyise), with a wider mandate beyond TB and HIV to include noncommunicable diseases, occupational lung diseases and mental health.

Between 2016 and 2019, Masoyise made yearly TB screening and HIV testing and counselling available to all mining employees, monitored screening performance for TB and HIV, conducted TB contact tracing exercises, offered support to small mines and improved health-related communication with employees.

According to the council, Masoyise is on track to meet its target of reducing the mining industry’s TB incidence rate to below the national rate by the end of 2024.