The aim of the inquiry is to establish:

the cause of exposure that resulted in manganese (occupational diseases) that the employees are suffering from
the level of manganese fumes or dust exposure to the workers
whether the employer has fulfilled the legal obligation of preventing exposure as prescribed in the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993 and Hazardous Chemicals Substances Regulations
whether control mechanisms were put in place by the employer
whether the necessary preventive measures to prevent a repeat of the incident were taken.

Department of Labour officials who presided over the matter requested that Assmang Ltd provide evidence in relation to safety induction booklet for employees, material safety data sheet, and the incident register for the last three years. The inquiry has adjourned until 9 to 11 July to allow more presentations and cross examination.

Manganese inquiry on hold. IOL of 16 April 2007. 'Inquiry sessions on Manganese poisoning at a Durban company have been put on hold, the labour department said on Monday. Several Assamang Ltd employees in Durban testified at last week's first session of inquiry which formed part of the department's investigation. The inquiry was instituted late last year after five workers at the company were reported to be suffering from possible manganese poisoning. "The inquiry has adjourned until July 9 to allow for more presentations and cross-examination," the department said in a statement. If inhaled Manganese fumes or dust could affect the central nervous system. An intake of high concentrated fumes will cause flu-like illnesses referred to as manganese pneumonitis. According to the department the objectives of the inquiry include establishing the extent to which workers were exposed to manganese and determining the extent to which the employer complied with health and safety regulations'.

TV tells workers of poison risk. News24 0f 13 April 2007. 'Workers at a KwaZulu-Natal manganese smelter had never been informed of manganese poisoning by their employer, heard a department of labour enquiry in Cato Ridge on Friday. They first heard of the dreaded disease when watching a television programme showing the debilitating effects of the disease. Richard Spoor, an attorney representing several workers at the Assmang Ltd ferromanganese works in Cato Ridge, said: "That was the first time any of them knew that there was a risk". Spoor was addressing the inquiry during cross-examination of the company's chief executive officer Bryan Broekman on the second day of the enquiry. The public inquiry follows reports of six cases of manganism at the Assmang ferro-manganese smelter plant in Cato Ridge. Spoor asked Broekman what measures the company had taken to inform employees of manganism - acquired by overexposure to airborne manganese. It affects the sufferer's central nervous system, leaving them with symptoms very similar to Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS). 'Failing to provide adequate warning' The disease was first recognised among miners in Scotland in 1835. In the US welders have accused the manufacturers of failing to provide adequate warning that their products could lead them to develop manganism. Spoor said that his clients, about 40 Assmang workers, had never heard of the disease from their employer prior to the airing of an SABC Special Assignment broadcast in April 2005. Spoor claimed the first time that workers had been formally warned of manganism was in October 2006 when a circular was distributed to all workers'.

Bleak future: A group of Assmang workers have been declared unfit to work due to physical ailments caused by manganese damage Photo: The Mercury
Sick workers demand action. IOL of 23 February 2007. 'Scores of factory workers - many shuffling about on walking sticks - gathered on Thursday to urge the labour department to get to the bottom of the manganese poison scandal at the Assmang smelter in Cato Ridge. Their attorney, Richard Spoor, said it was unacceptable that more than 30 suspected cases of poisoning from manganese dust and fumes had been detected so far, and there were strong indications that many more people had been "simply discarded" by the company because of a breakdown of occupational health and safety standards at the factory. Social worker John Clarke said Assmang was directly across the road from Thor Chemicals (where several workers died or became sick from mercury poisoning more than a decade ago), and the Labour department now had a special responsibility to prove that it had learnt some lessons and was capable of safeguarding the health of factory workers. The meeting at Cato Ridge Hotel on Thursday was called by senior inspectors of the Labour department at the request of Spoor and shop stewards from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa). The meeting was also attended by officials of the Solidarity union, the environmental justice group groundWork, two medical specialists and relatives of the sick Assmang workers. Sources who attended the meeting said labour officials were aware of at least 35 cases of Assmang workers now under surveillance for manganese poisoning, and had urged affected people to come forward to give evidence and make formal statements. Spoor said afterwards that he was heartened to see so many workers coming together. "I know that many of the workers are afraid of losing their jobs or pension benefits. But this was an opportunity for them to see that they are not alone. Now they can see that there are many others like them who are also sick and in pain, and who can stand together. "It is not acceptable that a company can make people sick and not be held responsible - and we are hoping that we will be able to persuade Assmang to do the right thing." Several of the workers also asked for medical advice about the manganese levels found in their blood, and whether they were being protected adequately following a prohibition notice that was served on the company last year for exceeding the regulated manganese safety guidelines. Workers said the company had told them that a level of less than 14 micrograms of manganese per litre of blood was considered acceptable - whereas some blood tests had revealed levels as high as 178 micrograms per litre. Rajen Naidoo, of the Centre for Occupational and Environment Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, reportedly said that while levels of 50-178 micrograms were "completely unacceptable", it was difficult to determine an absolute level of danger. Elevated blood levels were an alarm signal that the worker needed to be removed from the working environment immediately, and also indicated a breakdown in factory safety measures. Spoor said that instead of focusing unduly on blood results, workers should look out for early symptoms of manganese poisoning - including shaky hands, slurred speech, headaches, stiffness, fatigue, impotence, difficulties in breathing or swallowing as well as a fixed gaze or "dead-looking face". He also referred to a list of nearly 20 former Assmang employees who had allegedly died in unexplained circumstances, and noted that Assmang was only prepared to confirm four "confirmed" cases of people suffering from manganism. "There is an enormous problem of under-diagnosis of those who are sick... We know of at least 30 people who are showing symptoms which developed in the last few years," said Spoor. "If we can find 30 cases from just the last two to three years, how many other cases have there been in the last 20 to 30 years - and where are these people today?" Spoor said that it was crucial to trace all sick workers. "We hear stories from workers who were dismissed on the basis that they could not walk in a straight line, and must therefore have been drunk. It looks like some of these people have been thrown away, sick and undiagnosed. And their families are not getting support during their suffering." Spoor said the permissible levels of manganese dust in factories had been regulated for many years - but he had seen reports showing that these legal limits had been exceeded many times, over many years. Some workers had been "boarded" for medical reasons, yet suffered heavy financial losses because of inadequate pension or disability benefits. No Assmang representatives were reported to have spoken at the meeting, and subsequent attempts to contact company spokesperson Bryan Broekman for comment were unsuccessful'.