Glenda Daniels
The methane explosion that killed 12 workers at the Beatrix Goldfields mine in Welkom this month could have been avoided, according to preliminary findings into the disaster.
For the first time in the history of mining in South Africa, a mining company was closed down, sending a strong message that inadequate health and safety measures will not be tolerated. The company lost about R3-million a day in the four days it could not operate while a Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs investigation took place.
And as pressure mounts from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) it might also be the first time that the government will institute a speedy public inquiry and inquest into the disaster, which might result in prosecutions.
The accident has seriously embarrassed the company, which has had two accidents in one year. In the past 10 years 731 miners have been killed in South Africa, according to NUM. Since 1984 1 025 miners were killed, with the Kinross disaster having the highest number of deaths in one accident at 177.
The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs’s preliminary report released a week after an investigation found that preventable factors resulted in the explosion.
This included poor ventilation, a build-up of methane gas, and inadequate reporting and supervisory mechanisms making Goldfields directly responsible for the deaths.
This is the second explosion at Beatrix in the past year, and the third methane explosion in two years. Further investigations by the department will establish whether failure to follow its past recommendations to the mine resulted in the latest disaster.
The report found that the two most probable causes of the ignition were a spark caused by a fall of rock or an electric switch.
Recommendations for future health and safety include that an assessment takes place to establish all flammable gas sources and emission rates and concentrations. Beatrix should install ventilation controls and institute proper monitoring to test for flammable gas.
The mine management has to address shortcomings in supervision systems, control and coordination to ensure that health and safety concerns are integrated into daily activities.
NUM president Senzeni Zokwana says: ”It’s easy to blame the dead when accidents happen, and say there was human error. We continue to subsidise profits with lives that are lost.”
The Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 says a public hearing has to be held. This did not happen in the first Beatrix disaster in May last year. There was also no prosecution for the seven deaths at the mine. Now the union is determined that procedures will be followed.
NUM’s attorney, Brendan Barry from Cheadle Thompson and Haysom, says a strong message has been sent out to companies after the mine was closed. ”All too often companies rush back to production with urgency rather than focus on health and safety issues.”
He says a public inquiry is a legal requirement and is in the public interest. It will also satisfy the union that a proper investigation is held into the causes of the accident, so that further legal steps can be taken against those responsible. Barry confirmed that a public inquiry has not yet taken place on the last Beatrix disaster. ”I certainly hope one takes place with this one.”
NUM says that had Beatrix adhered strictly to recommendations in the last disaster, this one could have been avoided.
But Beatrix mine manager Phillip Schoeman denies this, saying the recommendations were followed. ”Any accident is preventable. We take mine safety very seriously. It is not reported what we are actually doing for mine safety.”
Gwede Mantashe, general secretary of NUM, says: ”What is significant about this disaster is that for the first time we have actually seen the government take quick action, to enforce the rules. But mining remains the killing fields in this country.
”We want justice procedures to take place now. This deserves homicide charges, after a public inquiry and an inquest. This is the human price we are paying for profits. The brutality of capitalism has yet to be exposed.”