IN a surprising development South African coal producer Thungela Resources is teaching the Australian mining industry a thing or two about mine safety judging by the safety improvements at the group’s Ensham mine in Queensland.
Thungela bought Ensham from Japanese owner Idemitsu last year for R4bn and has just reported a significant improvement in the mine’s safety performance for the six months to end-June.
That’s surprising because – from the late 1990’s – the Australian mining industry was held up as the example to be followed by the South African mining sector in its attempts to improve the safety performance on South African mines.
This was despite the obvious major difference between the two countries which was that many South African mines – in particular the gold and platinum operations – were deep-level underground operations which are inherently more dangerous than the surface and shallow operations predominantly found in Australia.
According to Thungela CEO July Ndlovu, “safety has always been our first value, and we have reinforced its primacy by establishing safety as a dedicated pillar in our strategic priorities framework
“In Australia, the TRCFR (total recordable case frequency rate) significantly improved to 11.64 (in the six months to June) from 22.01 for the six months ended June 2023 reflecting proactive efforts to align Ensham’s safety systems with Thungela’s work practices where appropriate.”
Ndlovu tells Miningmx, “the Australians in Queensland were probably the pioneers of risk management in safety. What the SA mining industry has done is to understand that there is more to delivering safe outcomes than just mere systems and risk management. Culture is just as important. The creation of a culture where people chose to work safely even when there is no-one looking.
“That integration is probably the lesson that we take to Australia – to take the next step that everybody goes home safely every day – creating a workplace that is free of not only fatalities but life-changing injuries too.
“We have halved the TRCFR at Ensham because we have brought to them an understanding that injuries are just as important because these can change peoples’ lives.
“I am not saying that South Africa is better than Australia at safety. The Australians are really good. Their safety systems are world class.
“But what we have found is – and I am exaggerating – an intrinsic view that says we will make sure you don’t get killed in the workplace, but you may get injured.
“Whereas here (in South Africa) our view is slightly different. We don’t want you to get killed and we don’t want you to get injured.”
