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Mining companies have to do more to address safety issues - Michael Kruger [miningmx.com] -- MINING companies should revisit the basics as part of their approach to enforcing a safety culture at their operations and not over complicate matters, said Michael Kruger, a mining safety consultant. The 240,000-strong National Union of Mineworkers called its members out on a one-day strike on Tuesday to protest ongoing deaths on South African mines. It's estimated 201 workers have been killed on the mines so far this year compared to 199 last year. "We can do much more, we just need to cut through all the haze and decide what is really important, and how do you take this thing forward to a better health and safety environment," said Kruger. Speaking on Summit TV Kruger said mining companies had to aim for a zero fatality rate at their operations. “That must be your aim - it cannot be anything else but zero, realistically you can drive the current figures down dramatically, but whether you can get to zero - it’s debatable, but I don’t even think you should debate that." Kruger acknowledged mining houses spent tremendous resources on managing health and safety risks. "Sometimes I think that we over-complicate things, I believe that the core fundamentals of health and safety is core competency - people need to be competent in dealing with health and safety risks. I believe we can spend much more time and resources on training," he said. "I question whether all that training is directed in the most efficient manner or achieving its goals - because when it comes to training sometimes we assume people are competent when it comes to issues such as what is a hazard, how to address risk, how to report," said Kruger. "They have to re-look at things such as induction training; they should re-assess risk and ensure that training programmes are not restricted by resource or time restrictions. Do it properly - if you’re going to go to that trouble do it properly."
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