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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Health and Safety Committee (Nahsco) has said there is a reluctance from government to prosecute CEOs for their companies’ non-compliance with the Mine Health and Safety Act, stating that CEOs should be criminally charged for any injury or loss of life on their mines.
These views were stated during the latest Nahsco quarterly meeting, where the committee reflected on the state of health and safety across all sectors where the NUM operates, such as the mining, energy, construction and metals sectors.
Nahsco’s sentiments were that, if CEOs could be rewarded for good performance, they should also be held accountable for poor performance, especially when serious injury or the loss of human life was involved.
Nahsco expressed great concern over the increasing number of fatalities in the mining industry specifically.
The NUM observed that the mining industry had continued to record an increase in fatalities between 2020 and 2021.
It accused the mining industry of normalising exorbitant CEO salaries, which the union said was sometimes more than the budget allocated for adequate fall-of-ground research and work, which could save lives.
"The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) as a regulator remains critical in ensuring the health and safety of workers. It cannot be correct that the DMRE only employs 150 inspectors.
“If the government regards mining as a critical industry for the country's economic growth, the DMRE must be fully capacitated to inspect all the mines across the country,” said NUM national health and safety secretary Masibulele Naki on May 25.
He said it was worrisome that the DMRE had fewer inspectors than the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL).
“With more than 2 000 inspectors countrywide, the very same DEL is failing to provide adequate inspections to workplaces and there is insufficient consequence management for employers who don't adhere to regulations,” Naki noted.
Nahsco also discussed and resolved that some outdated medical examination practices, such as heat tolerance stress tests, should be abolished.
Further, the committee noticed that there was “no attention” given to the compliance of the construction and the metals and engineering sectors by government.
“At [State-owned utility] Eskom, the majority of contractors hired are not adhering to health and safety protocols,” the committee stated.
Nahsco said there was a need for the NUM to intensify and better equip health and safety structures within the sphere of its operations.