[miningmx.com] — THE heat is on mining CEOs to make greater strides in safety as the threat of jail sentences loom over executives found guilty of contravening safety regulations.
Mining health and safety law expert at Werksmans Attorneys Wessel Badenhorst said on Tuesday that the industry should soon expect an increase in safety-related prosecutions as the department of mineral resources (DMR) gears up to give teeth to the Mining Health & Safety Act.
The law makes provision for the prosecution and jailing of CEOs. According to Badenhorst, it has also become standard practice for CEOs to be called in by the DMR to make presentations in cases of serious safety incidents.
Last year the department budgeted R145m for prosecutions and hired a legal expert to pursue cases of possible safety breaches.
On Tuesday the Chamber of Mines said that the work-related deaths of 128 miners in 2010 was the biggest annual improvement since 2003 when it undertook to bring mine deaths down to levels comparable to benchmark countries such as Australia, the US and Canada by 2013. That year 270 miners died at work.
In 2009, 168 miners died so the 2010 figure represents a 24% improvement.
The benchmark countries measure fatality rates, which are either fatalities per 1,000 people working or fatalities per million hours worked.
The DMR is expected to release the industry’s labour numbers for 2010 later this year, which is necessary to calculate fatality rates.
“We are sad about the 128 mine workers who lost their lives in 2010,’ said Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya. “Still, this was achieved despite the challenges of deeper mines and South Africa’s slow progress towards a safety culture,” he said.
The gold industry, which has the oldest and deepest mines in South Africa, accounted for 63 deaths (81 in 2009), followed by platinum’s 32 (41 in 2009) and coal’s 13 (18 in 2009).
“Other mining’, including chrome and manganese, accounted for 20 deaths (28 in 2009).
The Chamber’s safety and sustainable development adviser Sietse van der Woude said the major risks remained falling ground, accidents related to the use of transport and machinery, noise and dust.
He said the industry’s priorities for 2011 included the strengthening of an incident investigating system to pinpoint weaknesses.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said the body viewed the figures – which are provisional – with scepticism as they do not include all incidents which occurred towards the end of the year.
“We see no reason to celebrate (a reduction in mining deaths) if the figures for December haven’t been added.’ Seshoka said.
He said that while firms have stepped up their efforts to train workers better, the investment in improved infrastructure leaves much to be desired.
PROFITABLE MINING
Badenhorst said some mining CEOs remain unconvinced about the business imperatives of safer mining and that SA’s aging mines pose a growing corporate governance dilemma for the boards and CEOs of mining companies.
“Every mine death implies a work outage and has negative consequences for shareholders,’ he said.
“Safe mining is profitable mining.’
Given that ground falls account for about 40% of mining casualties, Badenhorst said CEOs should pay special attention to their responsibility in terms of the design of the mine because they could also be held accountable for design decisions prior to their term.
On the appointment of senior legal counsel by the DMR, Badenhorst said it would give the department the ability to ask the right questions and arrive at the correct conclusions.
