Minerals Council South Africa member companies have agreed and committed to implement eight measures immediately to urgently address and halt the number of fatalities at South Africa’s mines.

Following on from the MineSafe 2021 conference with all stakeholders on November 25, the council convened a special board meeting to agree immediate steps for member companies to adopt to eliminate fatalities at their operations.

By December 13 this year, 72 people have died on South Africa’s mines compared with 52 in the same period last year.

This is the second consecutive year of regression in safety after the industry recorded 60 fatalities in 2020 compared with 51 in 2019, which was the industry’s lowest number of fatalities.

“We know that the 72 is not just a number or a statistic. These are people, families, relatives, friends and colleagues. The impact of every single fatality is very well understood.

“As CEOs, we are called upon to show leadership. We have the influence and the authority to stop this. We do not want to be known as the industry where people come to work and die,” says Mineral Council CEO Zero Harm Forum chairperson Themba Mkhwanazi.

The Minerals Council board, comprising 29 CEOs of mining companies, convened an urgent meeting last week to agree on short-term measures that member companies would adopt and implement immediately to prevent further fatal incidents.

The eight interventions include increased visible-felt leadership presence at mining operations; stopping unauthorised and uncontrolled access to old mining areas that are not routinely mined; and to effectively and rigorously conduct risk assessments and implement controls where work in previously mined areas is routinely undertaken.

In addition, the CEOs committed to quality and scheduled maintenance programmes instead of opportunistic and ad hoc maintenance arising from production pressures; deploying competent and skilled employees in areas of high-risk work to provide adequate supervision, oversight and risk assessment of that work; and to undertake quality and scheduled critical-controls monitoring and assurances to prevent falls of ground (FOG), transport-related accidents and inundation of working areas.

Ensuring that incentives and bonuses for miners do not compromise their rights to stop or refuse unsafe work; implementing sufficient fatigue breaks and monitoring and conducting phased on-boarding after the holiday period of employees to ensure they are in sound physical and mental health, were also among the commitments made.

Beyond these measures, board members also gave their full support to the MineSafe 2021 commitments jointly agreed to by the Minerals Council, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, organised labour, suppliers’ organisations, professional associations, the Mine Health and Safety Council and Mining Qualifications Authority.