The improvement in mine health and safety in the years since the advent of democracy in 1994 is welcome, but the rate of improvement regarding fatalities and injuries in the mining sector is too slow, Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy Lulu Xingwana said in a speech on Wednesday.
“There needs to be dramatic improvements in occupational safety and not just incremental improvements,” she added.
African National Congress MP Professor Ismail Mohamed read Xingwana’s prepared speech at the fourth biennial Health and Safety Summit.
From September 1 last year to August 31 this year, 220 people died in the mining industry, down 13% from 253 fatalities in the corresponding period in 2003/2004, according to Department of Minerals and Energy safety statistics.
This improvement compares with the mining industry target of “zero harm” by 2013, which in 2003 required that the industry improve its safety performance by 20% a year.
“The mining industry has for decades been the backbone of our economy and a major provider of employment in South Africa. But the benefits of these contributions to development have always been overshadowed by the industry’s poor health and safety record,” Xingwana said.
“Even today, this sector’s commitment to the health and safety of workers and communities affected by mining is questioned. This must change. Death, injury and disease must be rooted out of mining,” she added.
In 2003, at the mining-industry health and safety summit, the sector committed to zero fatalities, injuries and ill health by 2013.
The sector also committed to the elimination of silicosis and noise-induced hearing loss. Switzerland eliminated silicosis in 2000, she said.
“Occupational health goals and performance still remained too vague for my comfort. Work on understanding where we are and what must be done require urgent attention,” Xingwana said.
On the issue of dust exposure and silicosis, Xingwana said there is little evidence that dust levels have been brought down.
Silicosis and tuberculosis are the greatest killers of mine workers — even more than rock falls, she said.
Gold mines are the key contributor to silicosis due to the high level of dust in these mines, Xingwana said.
The number of mining disasters is also of concern, such as the accident in which nine miners died at Northam Platinum in 2004 as well as when seven were killed in one accident at Hernic Ferrochrome and four workers in one accident at Harmony Gold, Xingwana said.
During 2005, the worst accident in the mining industry has been the death of five workers in one accident at Gold Fields’ Driefontein mine.
Mohamed, a member of Parliament’s portfolio committee, said accidents in South Africa’s gold mines are “horrendous”. — I-Net Bridge