JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa may be gaining traction on its ambitions of “zero harm” within the mining sector, with indications that the number of recorded fatalities in 2014 had reached a record low with the unofficial count at 84.

In the run-up to the release, at the end of January, of the latest Department of Mineral Resource (DMR) yearly industry safety audit, Chamber of Mines (CoM) safety and sustainable development acting head Dr Sizwe Phakathi
 told Mining Weekly Online that significant progress has been made by the sector in reducing fatalities and improving safety over the past few years.

Last year marked the seventh consecutive year of a reduction in the number of workers fatally injured on South Africa’s mines. In 2013, the industry made history when it reported less than 100 mining deaths for the first time, he said.

It was expected that the official 2014 safety achievements would be around 9% better than the 93 fatalities reported in 2013, despite the industry adding more than 100 000 workers in the past decade to well over 500 000 now.

As at November 2014, 80 fatalities were officially reported.

Phakathi pointed out that, while the industry was not “where we want it to be”, improvements had been seen, with South Africa’s coal and platinum sectors having performed better than their North American counterparts in terms of safety in 2014.

At the 2014 Mine Health and Safety Tripartite Summit late last year, Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC) chairperson and chief inspector of mines David Msiza said the sector had reduced mining fatalities from 615 in 1993 to 93 in 2013.

Coal mines recorded a 93% improvement between 1993, when 90 fatalities were recorded, and 2013, when there were seven fatalities, while the gold sector registered a 91% improvement from the 436 fatalities in 1993 to 37 in 2013.

The platinum sector marginally improved its safety performance, with 29 fatalities reported in 1993 and 28 in 2013; however, the sector had reached a peak of 64 fatalities in 2004.

Overall, the country’s mine fatality rates improved 72% to 0.09 in 2013 compared with the 0.32 achieved in 2003. Australia, Canada and the US recorded a combined improvement rate of 29% to a rate of 0.05 in 2013 from 0.07 in 2003.

Even the number of injuries in South Africa had fallen dramatically in the past two decades, from 8 515 in 1993 to 3 126 in 2013.

The gold industry reported a significant decline in injuries during the past two decades, from 7 368 in 1993 to 1 252 in 2013, with the injury frequency rate falling to 4.27 per million hours worked, compared with 7.13 over the same period.

Injuries in the coal sector fell from 279 in 1993 to 263 in 2013, with the injury frequency rate declining to 1.48 per million hours worked from 1.85.

The injury frequency rate per million hours worked in the platinum sector also improved from 3.56 in 1993 to 3.41 in 2013, with the number of injuries dropping from 1 344 to 395.

In the 11 months to November 2014, the number of injuries in the mining industry had declined 25% from 2 799 in the comparative period the year before to 2 095. The number of injuries in the platinum industry plunged more than 50% to 571.

Despite the significant improvements made in the past two decades, new milestones and targets were set and agreed to by industry stakeholders to accelerate the journey to zero harm.

At the summit, industry agreed to ensuring every mining company in South Africa had a target of zero fatalities, with the overall aim of eliminating fatalities by December 2020.

The industry also committed to reducing serious injuries by 20% each year over the next two years, with a 20% reduction in lost-time injuries a year eyed from January 2017.

In addition to the “bold” targets, Phakathi said the CoM and MHSC would launch a centre of excellence in April to undertake research; build capacity; facilitate research outcomes for the mining sector in areas such as rock engineering, human factors and occupational health and hygiene; and provide health and safety related training at all levels.

The centre, to be led by CoM safety and sustainability adviser Sietse van der Woude, would enhance capacity and strengthen domestic research collaboration by drawing on local existing research strength, infrastructure and other funding sources.

Further, the centre aimed to develop beneficial relationships with major international research centres and programmes, while attracting and retaining top research talent in mining research with particular emphasis on occupational health and safety research.

The provision of high-quality training in innovative and internationally competitive occupational health and safety research was also a key priority, along with the facilitation of the education and training of mineworkers on health and safety in partnership with the Mining Qualifications Authority.