Mine deaths fall, but safety target missed

Mine safety statistics, expected to be released by Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu later this month, will show that, despite a marked improvement in combating mine fatalities, South Africa has failed to reach the targets it set itself a decade ago.

In 2003 the industry drew up a roadmap to achieve zero fatalities and injuries by 2013. This might sound unrealistic, but competitors in developed countries like the US, Australia and Canada get close to it.

There have been 29 fatalities so far this year. This is a 66% improvement on the 270 deaths of 2003, when the plan was first mooted, but still far short of the target.

The plans in 2003 included setting up the Mine Occupational Safety and Health team, focusing on the biggest risk areas - such as falls of ground, dust, noise and transportation. It also included setting up tripartite bodies including government, mining companies and labour to discuss ways to improve safety.

Leigh McMaster, head of health and safety at trade union Solidarity, said there has been improvement in ground support, leadership and entry examinations.

But one of the problems preventing the industry from reaching the zero-fatality target is the lack of enforcement by the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate.

McMaster said that while the inspectorate has improved there have been cases where it has issued section 54 instructions without justification.

"Many of these examples could possibly be attributed to a lack of standards across the regions of the inspectorate, incompetence in some cases and a lack of capacity. It has, however, played a pivotal role in accelerating safety improvement in the industry," he said.

Mining is the only industry in which safety is policed by a dedicated inspectorate. In other sectors, the job is done by the Department of Labour, which often fails to enforce regulations.

McMaster emphasised that mining is the only industry in South Africa that has embraced safety as the "primary value and imperative" for sustainable business.

It is also the only industry that has structures and processes to accelerate safety transformation, he said.

Harmony Gold safety executive Alwyn Pretorius said: "Harmony has embarked on a culture alignment process with safety as our main priority."

Pretorius said that in the last 15 months Harmony has not had a fall of ground fatality in South Africa.

Lonmin executive vice-president Mark Munroe said there has been a dramatic improvement in collaboration between unions and mining companies over the past five years.

A key to success has been changing a culture of regarding some fatalities as acceptable.

McMaster said "the culture transformation framework for the mining industry is expected to be the catalyst for change over the next couple of years".

"The forum addresses critical areas such as leadership, risk management and investigations, incentives, the implementation of leading practice and the elimination of discrimination," he said.