Mining inspectors to scrutinise equipment suppliers

Equipment manufacturers and suppliers have a duty of care to ensure the occupational safety and health of miners, said the Chief Inspector of Mines, May Hermanus.

Chief Inspector of Mines, May Hermanus during her presentation at Nosa International’s annual conference, Noshcon, held at Sun City from the 4 th to the 7 th of May

“A culture of non-compliance is still prevalent in many sectors of the industry, indicating a behavioural problem,” she said on Thursday (6 May) at the Nosa International risk management conference, Noshcon, held at Sun City in the Pilanesberg this week.

From left: Linzi Smith, MD of NAMS (Nosa Aids Management Solutions), Sipho Mthombeni, Chief Financial Officer and May Hermanus, Chief Inspector of Mines.

Inspectors from the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) had noted that the design of some equipment and job functions required postures and actions that were not ergonomically correct, or hazardous, or exposed workers to noise in excess of regulated levels or periods.

“Some manufacturers respond that they make equipment to client specification, while some operators respond that they trust the manufacturers to adhere to the relevant legislated standards. We will inspect both parties and the occupational results in this regard.”

Noise-induced hearing loss was becoming less common, she said, but many operators still could not meet the current legislative requirements due to the cumulative effects of noisy equipment design, confined areas in systems design, and a reliance on impact-based processes.

Sins of the past

Inherited mining practices were often defective, May Hermanus said. “Operators should increase their capacity in risk identification, and their capacity to act on the results.”

Evidence of non-compliance of the past, for example to Section 25 of the National Environmental Management Act, was contained in DME Report 23/2/2001. The report cites a compliance rate of a mere 55% in the mining sector, compounded by inherited waste pollution, inconsistencies in government policy and legislation, defects in inspection capacity, and implementation lags.

“I use mining sector data because these are available to me. Other sectors may not even have comparable data, and suffer from a false sense of achievement.”

Compensation levels remained too high, at R7.7-million for 2003, indicating that the improvement in SH&E performance in mining in the last decades, still left room for improvement.

Maximum fines were issued to a number of non-compliant mining companies for the first time recently, initiating several legal challenges. While some maximum fines are set at around R200 000, the stoppages involved during rectification are usually much more costly.

Silicosis, TB, HIV cycle

Ms Hermanus identified the unchanged rate of silicosis as a current problem in the mining industry. “Data from 1975 to 2001 indicate that we are not making progress against this disease. In addition, dust exposure drives a four-fold increase in tuberculoses (TB), while TB accelerates HIV infection and AIDS symptoms, which in turn accelerates the symptoms of TB. We have to break the vicious cycle that sustains a huge public health impact.”

Safety supports development

The ultimate goal of legal compliance, she said, was sustainable development. Occupational safety, health and environmental (SH&E) management was central to sustainability.

South Africa was committed to being a globally responsible country.

“Government is intent on integrating occupational considerations with economic, social and political needs and rights.”

Ms Hermanus advised companies to follow suit and to manage all their various impacts, including “transboundary effects” in communities and ecosystems. “This is a difficult area in our enforcement work, and involves some policy principles not included in the constitution.”

She confirmed that employers should prevent and minimize SH&E hazards across the full life cycle of design, commissioning, operation, maintenance, decommission, and disposal of unavoidable waste.

All non-compliers could expect prosecution, and polluters would pay for remediation. Using an example close to the conference venue in North-West province, Ms Hermanus said that air quality over the industrialising Rustenburg area was deteriorating due to defects in the policies of the past.

Good news

There is good news in the mining sector too. Many mines, among these being the deepest in the country, were now accustomed to operating for longer periods without either lost time incidents or fatalities. “There is more evidence of a systematic approach to HS&E, and that is very heartening. The gold mining sector, in particular, had decreased its fatal injuries over last year.

“Our statistics show that we are still moving in the right direction. From our close tracking of monthly figures, it seemed that there is an improvement over last year’s figures in injury rates. We hope to see this confirmed soon.”

One inspectorate

Integration of the various inspectorates dealing with occupational legislation would be advanced this year, with parliament passing proposed legislation to Nedlac for comment. “It may be a lengthy process yet, but we are forging ahead and expect draft legislation to be available within four months.” The inspectorates of the DME and the Department of Labour are expected to merge into one body.

* Nosa International profile

Nosa International provides occupational risk management consulting and training to organisations in a wide spectrum of sectors. Subsidiaries have been established in Africa, South America, Australasia and Asia, with parallel specialised offices serving the mining sector. The multi-national commercial company offers value-adding, innovative products and services in occupational risk management. The Nosa Certification Authority (NCA) provides auditing and certification against globally recognised occupational safety, health and environmental management standards, such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, the NOSA Five Star management system, and the Aids Management Standard 16001.