South African mining fatality rates were not “that bad”, considering the average risk to people in everyday situations, freelance mining consultant Dr Noel Joughin said at the LexisNexis Mine and Occupational Health and Safety conference, held in Johannesburg, last week. He asserted that the concepts of zero harm and zero fatalities were not viable.

“Accidents will always happen, but it is a matter of how mining companies and employees face the risks.

“In making judgments on tolerable levels of risk in industry, and in all spheres of life, it needs to be understood that every action gives rise to risk. Without risk, nothing can be done and no economy could be advanced,” he said.

Further, Joughin said that there was a strong tendency to emphasise the risk people were exposed to at work, ignoring the fact that unemployed people were exposed to different set of risks. 
In every situation, people faced risks.

He said that, while the strategic target of achieving zero risk was laudable, it did not provide any practical guidance to engineers as to what the acceptable limits of risk should be.

Joughin concluded that, if mining fatalities were to be reduced in the short term, it was essential to change the attitude of employees towards safety. In the longer term, it was possible to reduce risk by improving knowledge or introducing improved technology in mining operations.

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