Thabo Gazi, the chief inspector of mines, has briefed the Chamber of Mines and labour unions about the health and safety audit of mines ordered by President Thabo Mbeki.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Friday that more than 40 000 mineworkers will gather ahead of next week’s safety strike.
The union said workers will converge on Rustenburg on Sunday to celebrate the trade union’s 25th birthday. Formed on December 4, the NUM’s official birthday falls on the same day that about 240 000 miners are expected to down tools in protest over declining safety levels at South African mines.
Regarding the audit, a statement from the Department of Minerals and Energy said on Friday that it will be in two parts: the first legal and the second a technical audit of installations and practices at mines.
“The outcome of these audits will give an indication of the extent to which mines comply with health and safety requirements, and will also help mines develop programmes of action to improve their health and safety,” the department said.
About 200 workers were killed in mines last year in rockfalls and explosions or by being buried underground during earth tremors. Prompted by an accident that trapped 3 200 workers at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Johannesburg for more than 24 hours last month, the president ordered a nationwide mining safety audit.
The legal audit will look at mine design and the provision of healthy and safe working conditions, and the servicing and maintenance of all equipment and systems, including communication systems.
It will also examine the statutory appointments and functions of the employer, managers, engineers, occupational medical practitioners, occupational hygiene practitioners and other statutory appointments as required in terms of the Mines Health and Safety Act.
The content of mines’ occupational health and safety policies will also be reviewed, in particular employers’ commitment and how widely the policies are published in a mine. The auditors will ascertain whether all employees know of its existence and contents.
In addition, they will look at inventory control of all explosives that are received, stored and used, as well as the disposal of old explosives. Water management will be under the spotlight with a focus on storage and usage of water, mud-rush risk, control of water in working places, and water quality for drinking purposes.
The team will also look at pollution emissions from mine sites (radioactive dust and so forth), water contamination, unprotected mine openings and complaints from surrounding communities and how these complaints are dealt with.
The technical audit will involve looking at shafts and shaft infrastructure, including the winders, ropes, surface infrastructure and mine infrastructure such as second outlets, return airways and water-pumping capability.
The technical auditors will analyse rockfalls, rockbursts and seismic accidents and will determine the extent of knowledge and understanding of rock behaviour among front-line supervisors.
They will also analyse rail accidents, examine the rail infrastructure, its maintenance and the age and condition of rolling stock.
A mine’s organisational culture will be tested for its effects on safety, and occupational health problems will be quantified.
Finally the auditors will examine employee records of health and safety training in relation to their job functions and to the hazards and risks in their workplaces. — I-Net Bridge