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Safety standard have deteriorated at Gold Fields - Frans Baleni general secretary, NUM
In an interview on ClassicFM @ 18:45 on 29 May 2008
[miningmx.com] -- SOUTH Africa's largest mining union has criticised Gold Fields for its lack of communication with its members at the time of and after fatal accidents last week which killed 14 people at the gold miner's operations.
A rope snapped on a cage and plunged down a shaft killing nine people at Gold Fields' South Deep mine on May 1.
"If you look at this incident of the shaft of South Deep where a rope snapped, it is something that doesn't just happen. You would understand if it was deep underground and a geological reaction but the snapping of a rope is just unacceptable because this equipment is supposed to be maintained and it can only snap if there was weakness in the maintenance," said Baleni in an interview on Classic Business.
"So where we come from – the safety standard has deteriorated in Gold Fields."
Baleni said that in the four months to
May 1 last year eight workers had been killed in South Africa's mines. In the same period this year this year 20 workers have been killed in one mining house. He said that this showed "they are slipping in so far as safety is concerned".
Gold Fields was criticised for what Baleni saw as a lack of communication. He said that in the first instance when four people were killed in one day on the 29 April
there was no communication at all to the stakeholders. On 1 May, when nine people were killed again there was no communication to the stakeholders.
Workers were called to report back to work on May 3 after the incident at South Deep and Baleni said they refused because there had been no communication.
In a separate interview on the same show CEO of Gold Fields Nick Holland, reacting to comment that Gold Fields may have sent workers back to work too early, said that the company had complied 100% with the requirements set out by the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME).
"Section 54 was issued on the day of the disaster and we complied in full with the Section 54 as we always do – we treat these things extremely seriously, we do not breach legislation – its part of our usual practice and we believe we comply with the laws," he said.
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