The South African mining industry has made significant strides in the past 50 years to improve health and safety standards, with 2014 culminating in the lowest fatality figure ever recorded.

Nonetheless, the 281 dependants of the 84 miners who were fatally injured last year remained without a breadwinner, South African Colliery Managers’ Association (Sacma) council member Tienie Bleeker said at the 2015 Coalsafe conference, held in Johannesburg last month.

Sacma president Ronaldt Mafoko added during his keynote address that the coal mining industry’s stakeholders had identified health and safety, care for the environment and sustainability for local communities as essential aspects of the sector’s value system.

“Our aim remains to achieve zero harm and we cannot be distracted or complacent – one fatality, one injury, one environmental incident and, indeed, one missed opportunity to improve the conditions of our communities, are unacceptable.”

Mafoko noted that, while the coal industry had achieved significant improvements over the years in terms of lower yearly injury and fatality rates, “certain emergencies” had plagued the sector in recent times and he reminded stakeholders that more focused efforts were required to ensure that the coal mining sector could come to the rescue of workers, the environment and affected communities in an emergency.

These recent emergencies Mafoko referred to included a member of a drill and blast crew being fatally injured while barring in the face of a bord-and-pillar section of a coal mine near Newcastle, in KwaZulu-Natal, and a coal truck driver being fatally injured in an accident at the Camden power station’s coal stockyard, in Mpumalanga, in January.

Additionally, in February, a miner and his blasting guard assistant sustained injuries during a blasting incident at a coal mine near Vryheid, in KwaZulu-Natal.

Meanwhile, Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) chief inspector of mines David Msiza pointed out in his keynote address that, in terms of mine health standards, the local mining sector had improved over the years, but not as much as the DMR would have liked.

“As a collective, we must place greater emphasis on health issues, particularly on reducing the exposure of mineworkers to air-borne pollutants, dust and noise pollution,” he stated.

Msiza said that tuberculosis and silicosis remained serious issues, with mineworkers also still contracting asbestosis, despite the last asbestos mine in South Africa having been decommissioned in 2001.

“This speaks to the legacy issue of overexposure and, therefore, we have to strive to prevent the overexposure of mineworkers to all forms of health hazards,” he said.

Fatality Focus

A total of 616 fatalities were reported in the local mining sector in 1993 – compared with 84 in 2014 – a reduction of 86%.

The coal sector contributed most to these reductions. In 1993, coal mines reported 90 fatalities, but only seven fatalities were recorded in 2013. However, nine fatalities were recorded in 2014.

Additionally, the gold mining sector reported 44 fatalities last year, compared with more than 400 in 1993, which is an improvement of about 90%.

Msiza also pointed out that, in the past three years, fires and fume deaths were the primary causes of fatalities, surpassing fall-of-ground accidents, while January replaced December as the month during which the most mine-related deaths had occurred.

“Transport-related fatalities is another area of concern for the DMR and is one that the industry must place a greater emphasis on, particularly the coal sector, as it is increasingly becoming more mechanised.”

Msiza emphasised that just as the local mining industry had reduced rock-fall-related casualties, so too could it reduce the incidence of transport-related casualties.

He said that, according to the fatality figures as at March 2, there had been a 57% improvement overall in terms of the number of fatalities recorded.

Fatal accidents have decreased by 33% in each of the coal and gold sectors this year to date. However, fatalities in the platinum sector have increased and no improvements have been recorded in other commodities.

As at March 2, there had also been an overall improvement of 24% in injury frequency rates in the local mining industry, while the coal sector recorded a 24% improvement and the gold sector a 34% improvement, Msiza noted.

He added that these health and safety improvements were “commendable”, but that the DMR was still “deeply concerned” about the number of lives that were being lost because of repeat accidents.

“This is something that must be addressed by all mine operators,” stated Msiza.

Additionally, he noted that there had been a considerable downward trend in the injury frequency rates for all commodities over the past 20 years.

“In 1993, there were about 8 500 injuries reported overall, while there were about 2 500 injuries reported in the local mining industry last year, which is a significant improvement,” said Msiza.

Further, Msiza showed delegates at the Coalsafe conference images of about 1 000 unnamed graves of mineworkers against a run-down hostel structure in the background, on the Evander gold mine property, in Mpumalanga.

“The way they were recognised was through their working equipment,” Msiza lamented, pointing to the picture of a grave on which old working gear was still visible, along with a numbered plate.

He added that the DMR was working with the unions and the local council to try to identify the workers.

Msiza also showed various television clips of mass mining fatality events that had occurred in the country over the past 50 years.
He stressed that these disasters served as a reminder of the bloody past of the South African mining industry and the memory of all fallen mineworkers “should be the driving force behind the industry in achieving zero harm”.

Zero Harm Goal

Concurring with these sentiments, international law firm Hogan Lovells partner and mining head Warren Beech told Mining Weekly in an exclusive interview last month that the target of achieving zero harm at mines and ensuring that all employees returned home safely every day must remain the ultimate goal of the industry.
“Sitting in on fatality enquiries is one of the most difficult things that a person can go through. The family of a deceased employee is present at these enquiries and they have to hear, often in graphic detail, about how their loved one died. These hearings are very sobering for mine management and other employees to participate in.”

Beech pointed out that the mining sector having achieved its lowest number of fatalities and injuries last year was testament to the industry’s heading in the right direction.

“All parties, including mines, the DMR, workers and trade unions, can take credit for the signifi- cant drop in injuries and fatalities,” he stated.

Beech acknowledged, however, that the record five-month-long strike in the platinum sector and the sporadic strikes in other commodity sectors last year did “somewhat” impact on these statistics, with no mine injuries occurring during these periods as people were not at work.

“It remains a major question whether the 2014 figures are sustainable for this year, particularly when mines reach full capacity, and strict targets will have to be met by mine managers,” he said.