The increase in mining fatalities in South Africa’s mining sector over the past two years has heightened the urgency to improve health and safety in the sector, Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has said.

Speaking at the opening of the Mine Health and Safety Summit, in Benoni, on Gauteng’s East Rand, he cited the increase in mine fatalities to 88 during 2017. Mine fatalities seemed to be on the rise again this year, with 69 fatalities already recorded for 2018, Mantashe said.

If the objective of ‘zero harm’ in South African mining can be achieved within the next three months to December 31, the Minister believes it will be possible to turn the tide for the better.

Mantashe noted that the summit was moved forward from its initially scheduled dates in November, owing to the increasing numbers of fatalities and disasters, defined as accidents in which four or more people are killed.

The summit, which was expected to attract about 700 delegates across two days, was hosted by the Mine Health and Safety Council and was aimed at providing an environment in which industry stakeholders could take decisions to try to reduce the number of fatalities, as well as incidents that result in injuries, within the mining sector.

“When there is an improvement [in health and safety in the mining industry], we commend the [mining] companies. But we forget to commend the workers – because it is the worker who puts his [or her] life on the line to convert [an] investment into wealth,” he stated.

However, the Minister pointed out that, in order to achieve health and safety objectives, the industry would need to pay attention to several factors.

He urged mining companies to avoid putting pressure on workers to chase production targets, as this contributed to additional stress and anxiety among employees to perform. Managers should receive people management training, he added.

Further, Mantashe said that, while not always possible to avoid, retrenchment announcements needed to be culled. These, he explained, sowed the seeds of disaster in a mine.

“Announcements of retrenchments sow the seeds of disaster in a mine, because, once announced, workers are anxious and lose focus and concentration because they are not sure whether they will still have a job.”

Mining companies also needed to ensure that continuous education and training on health and safety procedures took place at operations, as mineworkers needed to be involved in continuous education.

The industry would also need to focus on improving its communication chain, from top-level management to the workers. If everyone were nformed and aware, Mantashe believes this would reduce the amount of incidents on mines.

Eagerness for promotion among employees was another threat to safety, the Minister pointed out. “People who are eager to be promoted [sometimes] cut corners to prove that they can do the impossible. This can result in people dying in the process.”

Mantashe lamented that human behaviour was the cause of the majority of disasters and accidents in the industry. In this regard, the Minister appealed to trade unions to provide additional, and continuous, education for their members on workers’ rights, which could be beneficial.

According to law, mineworkers had the right to refuse to enter a dangerous working environment, as well as the right to representation.

More attention had to be paid to the health aspects of mining operations, Mantashe averred, noting that the rehabilitation of mines was very important, considering that industry stakeholders “have a responsibility to coexist with the communities where they are mining”.